China resorts to taciturn treatment of senior US officials after spy plane downing

China’s defense ministry declined Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s request to speak after the US shot down a Chinese spy balloon last week, and senior Chinese officials have remained silent ever since.

Austin requested a secure connection with Chinese Defense Secretary Wei Fenghe just after the U.S. shot down a surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday. The ministry denied the request and left only low-level communication channels open, a Pentagon spokesman for the US Air Force Brig said. General Pat Ryder said on Tuesday.

“We believe in the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between the United States and China in order to manage the relationship responsibly,” Ryder told reporters. “Unfortunately, the PRC rejected our request. Our commitment to open lines of communication will continue.”

Since the downing, China’s only reports have been official communications from its foreign ministry and its US embassy. This week, China ridiculed the downing as an “overreaction” and insisted on its claims that the spy ship was a weather balloon that had strayed off course. .

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The US military carries the wreckage of a Chinese reconnaissance balloon onto a boat off the coast of South Carolina. (US Navy forces)

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has not spoken to his Chinese counterpart since the US shot down a Chinese spy balloon. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning held a press conference on Tuesday over the incident, revealing China’s demand that the US return the wreckage of the balloon to Beijing. The US has already seized most of the balloon and handed it over to the FBI for analysis.

“The airship does not belong to the USA. It belongs to China,” Mao told reporters before resorting to China’s prepared response to the matter.

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“The unmanned Chinese airship is of a civilian nature. Its inadvertent entry into US airspace is completely unexpected and due to force majeure. He posed no threat to anyone or to US national security. incidents in a calm and professional manner that did not involve the use of force, however they chose to do otherwise, which is a clear overreaction,” she continued.

Biden is said to have ordered the downing of the Chinese ship on Wednesday last week, but the military advised waiting until the balloon was above open water for safety.

An F-22 takes off from Langley Air Force Base to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon. (US NORCOM)

Senior Chinese officials remain silent on US counterparts after the US shot down China’s surveillance balloon. (Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS)

Head of NORAD General Glen VanHerke spoke to reporters in a press conference on Monday and faced questions about why the US didn’t shoot down a Chinese spy ship as it crossed Alaska’s Aleutian Islands earlier in the week. VanHerk confirmed that NORAD had detected the craft before it entered Alaskan airspace, but said it “could not” take immediate action as the balloon did not pose a direct threat.

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Republicans on Capitol Hill have criticized Biden’s handling of the incident and are demanding more information about what intelligence the Chinese ship may have gathered during its US voyage.