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White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said during a press briefing on Monday that the US is not flying any balloons or "any other craft" over Chinese airspace. Kirby's comments came after accusations were made by Beijing that the US had flown over 10 high-altitude balloons over China in the last year.
Kirby was asked, "you said we're not flying any surveillance balloons over China. Are we flying any other kind of surveillance craft over China?"
He responded, "We are not flying surveillance balloons over China. I'm not aware of any other craft that we're flying over into Chinese airspace."
Kirby's comments came after giving a statement earlier on Monday to MSNBC vehemently rejecting China's claim that the US had flown craft over their airspace.
"Not true. Not doing it. Just absolutely not true," Kirby told MSNBC. "We’re not flying balloons over China."
China has acknowledged that it flew balloons for 8 days over the US. The first balloon was shot down by a fighter pilot on February 4, off the coast of South Carolina. Beijing claims that the balloon was weather-related and that it drifted off course. The US says that it has recovered parts of the aircraft and confirmed it was a spy balloon.
The US has since shot down three more objects over the weekend, over Alaska, over the Canadian Yukon, and over Lake Huron. The US has not commented on the origins of the three objects.
National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said, "It is China that has a high-altitude surveillance balloon program for intelligence collection, connected to the People's Liberation Army, that it has used to violate the sovereignty of the United States and over 40 countries across five continents."
"This is the latest example of China scrambling to do damage control,” she said. “It has repeatedly and wrongly claimed the surveillance balloon it sent over the United States was a weather balloon and to this day has failed to offer any credible explanations for its intrusion into our airspace and the airspace of others."
Kirby was asked, "you said we're not flying any surveillance balloons over China. Are we flying any other kind of surveillance craft over China?"
He responded, "We are not flying surveillance balloons over China. I'm not aware of any other craft that we're flying over into Chinese airspace."
Kirby's comments came after giving a statement earlier on Monday to MSNBC vehemently rejecting China's claim that the US had flown craft over their airspace.
"Not true. Not doing it. Just absolutely not true," Kirby told MSNBC. "We’re not flying balloons over China."
China has acknowledged that it flew balloons for 8 days over the US. The first balloon was shot down by a fighter pilot on February 4, off the coast of South Carolina. Beijing claims that the balloon was weather-related and that it drifted off course. The US says that it has recovered parts of the aircraft and confirmed it was a spy balloon.
The US has since shot down three more objects over the weekend, over Alaska, over the Canadian Yukon, and over Lake Huron. The US has not commented on the origins of the three objects.
National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said, "It is China that has a high-altitude surveillance balloon program for intelligence collection, connected to the People's Liberation Army, that it has used to violate the sovereignty of the United States and over 40 countries across five continents."
"This is the latest example of China scrambling to do damage control,” she said. “It has repeatedly and wrongly claimed the surveillance balloon it sent over the United States was a weather balloon and to this day has failed to offer any credible explanations for its intrusion into our airspace and the airspace of others."
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