The Chinese balloon incident rapidly changed from an initial moderate line to a hard-line confrontation within a week, and the state and defense continued to criticize hard lines, but the finances and economy continued to reconcile.
At a press conference on the 9th, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning directly criticized President Biden's remarks about President Xi Jinping as "very irresponsible" and a "violation of basic diplomatic protocol."
Last week, when public information first appeared on the news that a Chinese balloon had advanced into US skies, the Biden administration said the balloon posed no threat to Americans, and China made an unusual phone call to admit fault and express regret.
In declassified information released by the US State Department on the 9th, the US media reported that the Chinese spy balloon was equipped with an antenna to pinpoint the location of a communication device and was able to intercept calls from the device.
The balloon, which crossed the country for several days, captured public attention and focused Washington and national attention on the intensifying rivalry between China and the United States, but it appears to have turned into an information warfare.
After the balloon was discovered, Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken canceled a planned visit to Beijing.
Shortly after the balloon was shot down, China refused an attempt by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to call the Chinese defense secretary on the 6th, signaling tensions between the two superpowers.
When Secretary of State Blincoln canceled the trip to China, he said that the balloon entry was "a clear violation of US sovereignty and international law."
The “recovery of fragments” led by the US intelligence agency shows a major means of strengthening the level of sanctions against China.
US President Joe Biden did not directly mention the balloon in his State of the Union speech on the 6th, but he said, “We will stop China’s threat to US sovereignty,” and “There are few world leaders who would envy President Xi.” He directly mentioned President Xi Jinping.
President Biden repeated this criticism in an interview with public broadcaster PBS that day, saying, “The Chinese leader has faced ‘tremendous problems’, including a weakened economy.”
On the 8th, China's Glover Times criticized President Biden's speech and criticized that "the president of a major country who considers himself a world leader did not look like the State of the Union address."
"I am not aware of any 'balloon fleet'," a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in response to a reporter's query on the "US claim of a balloon spy program" on the 9th. "It is clear to the international community as to who the world's number one nation in spying, wiretapping and surveillance is."
“Recently, the US side proposed a phone call with the defense ministers of the two countries to communicate with China about the Chinese civil unmanned aerial vehicle incident,” the Chinese Ministry of Defense spokesperson Tan Kefei said in a statement on the 9th. The US used force to attack Chinese civilian drones, severely violated international customs, and set a bad precedent. Given that this irresponsible and serious mistake failed to create an appropriate atmosphere for dialogue and exchange between the armed forces of the two countries, the Chinese side did not accept the call proposal from the defense ministers of the two countries. Regarding the nature of the drone incident, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has publicly stated that China reserves the right to use any means necessary to deal with a similar situation.”
China's defense ministry said in a two-line statement shortly after the shoot-down that "China reserves the right to use any means necessary to deal with a similar situation."
Contrary to the State Department's announcement that China called down the US balloon an "irresponsible and serious mistake", a Commerce Department spokesperson said on the day that "China would welcome the visit of US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen."
The US Treasury Department said in a statement on the 8th, "Treasury Secretary Yellen still hopes to visit China, but has not provided details on plans or timing."
A US Treasury Department management team was scheduled to visit China in February to prepare for Secretary Yellen's visit to China, and the US shot down a Chinese balloon on the 4th.
China's Ministry of Commerce announced at a regular press conference on the 9th that it welcomed Yellen's willingness to visit.
Reuters said, “The United States held a briefing on the Chinese balloon with foreign diplomats from 40 countries in Washington and Beijing. The appearance of balloons against the United States last week caused political anger in Washington, and Secretary of State Blincoln urged the two countries to cancel their trip to Beijing, where they hoped to normalize relations.” reported on the 8th.
Treasury Secretary Yellen told reporters on the 8th, “I still hope to visit China and meet with economic officials. I met my Chinese counterpart in Zurich, Switzerland, on my way through,” Reuters reported.
A U.S. Air Force jet shot down a balloon off the coast of eastern South Carolina on the 4th, a week after it first entered U.S. airspace.
Earlier, Minister Yellen met with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in Zurich in January, and the two sides announced an agreement to strengthen communication on macroeconomic and financial issues at the time.
Commenting on the 2015 revamp of China's Strategic Assistance Force, Su Tzu-yun, an analyst at Taiwan's Defense Security Research Institute, said, "This force is part of the Chinese leader's attempt to modernize the People's Liberation Army, including expanding intelligence capabilities from space satellites to subsea vessels. “Balloons should be understood as part of an electronic espionage system. Even the data the balloons will gather about humidity and airflow can be useful militarily, and this atmospheric information can be used to determine the accuracy of China’s missile launches,” he said. can improve," he told the New York Times on the 9th.