China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, announced that China will be taking “countermeasures” against U.S. entities that “undermine China’s sovereignty and security,” according to the Associated Press.
As more information about the alleged Chinese spy balloons emerges, China is responding to American sanctions, despite the communist country saying the original balloon was an unmanned weather aircraft that had accidentally blown off its original course.
“China firmly opposes this and will take countermeasures in accordance with the law against the relevant U.S. entities that undermine China’s sovereignty and security,” said Wang during a briefing.
China will “resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and its legitimate rights and interests,” the official added.
The Pentagon claims that the Chinese government has been conducting covert surveillance operations for “several years,” with the Japanese government seemingly confirming these claims.
Japan’s Defense Ministry announced that officials believe Chinese spy balloons had flown over Japanese airspace at least three times between 2019 and 2023, saying they are seeking answers from Beijing, while considering changing laws to make subsequent breaches of airspace illegal.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel says that China is displaying a pattern of aggression that includes foreign Chinese police stations that have been discovered in the U.S. and Canada.
“The balloon to me is not an isolated incident,” Emanuel said.
China should “act appropriately to certain basic premises,” he added.
“That is you don’t open police stations in other countries ignorant of their laws as if your laws don’t have any boundaries,” the ambassador explained, adding that the actions are “not exactly the qualities and characteristics of the good neighbor policy.”
The Philippines recently accused the Chinese navy of using a “military-grade laser” on a patrol vessel, which caused “temporary blindness to her crew at the bridge,” the Philippine Coast Guard said in a statement.
The Filipino navy was making a supply run to one of its larger ships in the contested Spratly Islands, in the South China Sea, when the ship was accosted by a China Coast Guard ship and two smaller boats. The Chinese ship then pointed a large, green laser beam at the crew.
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