A high-ranking Chinese diplomat has called on the US to return the debris from the spy balloon shot down over the weekend, saying that failure to give back the parts would be more proof that the Americans have been “dishonest” in the conflict.
“If a person picks up something on the street and knows who the owner is, he should return it to the owner,” China’s ambassador to France Lu Shaye said during a Monday interview with the French channel LCI.
Lu accused the US government of “exaggerating” this issue, and repeated the Chinese official claim that the device was part of a civilian meteorological research effort, not espionage.
The balloon first made headlines last week, when Pentagon officials confirmed that the mysterious white device had been spotted over vulnerable western states. The device was shot down by a US fighter jet off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Feb. 4, and parts were recovered by Navy personnel.
According to Lu, the US government’s apparent refusal to return the debris from the balloon to the Chinese is proof that the country is “dishonest” in its tense dealings with China.
“[These balloons] are very common,” he said, alleging that “it is not uncommon to see American spy balloons, or balloons used for other purposes.”
When American spy balloons have entered Chinese airspace, Lu claimed, local officials have “played it low-key, without hype.” He did not say whether those devices were also shot down.
Lu’s statement echoed those of Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning, who said Tuesday that the balloon “does not belong to the US, it belongs to China,” Fox reported.
Mao’s latest remarks also came just one day after she publicly confirmed China’s ownership of the second spy balloon spotted over Latin America.
Mao said that, like the spy balloon over the US, the Latin American version was a weather research device that “seriously strayed from its planned route.”
The ongoing controversy over the Chinese spy balloons comes at an especially fraught period for US-China relations. In light of the fallout from the incident, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken indefinitely postponed his planned visit to China early this week.
“…I think, candidly speaking, in this current environment, I think [the balloon] would have significantly narrowed the agenda that we would have been able to address,” one official told reporters of the decision.
