China claims US balloons flew over its airspace ‘more than 10 times over the past year’
China has claimed US high-altitude balloons have flown over its airspace more than 10 times over the past year.
Beijing has made the claim after Washington accused China of operating a fleet of surveillance balloons around the world.
The development comes a day after US jets shot down a fourth flying object that the Pentagon said flew near sensitive military sites and was a risk to civilian aircraft.
It was downed over Lake Huron in Michigan at 2.42pm local time on Sunday on President Joe Biden’s orders.
The row started when a suspected Chinese spy balloon was shot down by the US off the coast of South Carolina earlier this month.
Ships were deployed in the water to mount the recovery operation.
‘US balloons illegally enter airspace’
China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin has given no details about the alleged US balloons today.
He did not explain how they had been dealt with, or whether they had government or military links.
He said at a daily briefing: “It is also common for US balloons to illegally enter the airspace of other countries.
“Since last year, US high-altitude balloons have illegally flown over China’s airspace more than 10 times without the approval of Chinese authorities.”
The US should “first reflect on itself and change course, rather than smear and instigate a confrontation,” the Chinese spokesman added.
China said the balloon shot down by the US over South Carolina was an unmanned airship made for meteorological research that had been blown off course.
It has accused the US of overreacting by shooting it down and threatened to take unspecified action in response.
US Navy sailors retrieve the balloon off the coast of South Carolina. Pic: AP
‘Heightened alert’ after latest ‘objects’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelled a visit to Beijing following the sighting of the balloon earlier this month.
Many had hoped the visit would put the brakes on the sharp decline in US-China relations over Taiwan, trade, human rights and threatening Chinese actions in the disputed South China Sea.
The balloon was equipped to detect and collect intelligence signals as part of a huge, military-linked aerial surveillance programme that targeted more than 40 countries, the Biden administration declared on Thursday, citing imagery from American U-2 spy planes.
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Latest downed object ‘much smaller’ than suspected spy balloon
US Air Force general Glen VanHerck admitted he did not know what the last three objects were or how they stayed aloft before being shot down.
However, he told reporters they were not the same as the balloon which started the row.
“We’re calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason,” he said – also refusing to rule out any explanation when asked if they could be extra-terrestrial.
Part of the reason for the repeated shootdowns is a “heightened alert” following the alleged Chinese spy balloon, General VanHerck said.
The United States has placed economic restrictions on six Chinese entities it said are linked to Beijing’s aerospace programmes as part of its response to the incident.
The US House of Representatives also voted unanimously to condemn China for a “brazen violation” of US sovereignty and efforts to “deceive the international community through false claims about its intelligence collection campaigns”.
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Wang Wenbin repeated China’s dismissal of the US claims, saying: “The frequent firing of advanced missiles by the US to shoot down the objects is an over-reaction of over-exertion.”
Meanwhile, on Monday the Philippines accused a Chinese coastguard ship of targeting a Filipino vessel with a military-grade laser and temporarily blinding some of its crew in the South China Sea, calling it a “blatant” violation of Manila’s sovereign rights.
China said the Philippines coastguard ship had trespassed into Chinese waters without permission on 6 February and that China responded “professionally and with restraint”.
China claims virtually all of the strategic waterway and has been steadily building up its maritime forces and island outposts.
Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump he “will not back down” from Russia’s goals in Ukraine during a phone call today, the Kremlin has said.
The Russian president spoke to his US counterpart for almost an hour, and Mr Trump “again raised the issue of an early end to military action” in Ukraine, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
In response, Mr Putin said “Russia will not back down” from its aims there, which include “the elimination of the well-known root causes that led to the current state of affairs,” Mr Ushakov said.
The phrase “root causes” is shorthand for Moscow’s argument that it was compelled to invade Ukraine in order to prevent the country from joining NATO.
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Ukraine and its European allies say this is a pretext to justify what they call an imperial-style war, but Mr Trump has previously shown sympathy with Russia.
At the same time, Mr Putin told the US president that Russia is ready to continue negotiating, the aide said.
The Russian president said any prospective peace deal must see Ukraine give up its NATO bid and recognise his country’s territorial gains.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, seen with Mr Trump in June, is pushing for Ukraine to join NATO. Pic: Reuters
He also briefed Mr Trump on agreements made last month, which saw Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners of war and dead soldiers.
Specific dates for the third round of peace talks in Istanbul were not discussed – nor was the US decision to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine.
Mr Putin and Mr Trump’s call came after the Pentagon confirmed some weapons due to be sent to Ukraine have been held as it reviews military stockpiles.
The paused shipments include air defence missiles and precision-guided artillery, two people familiar with the situation have said.
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The decision led to Ukraine calling in the acting US envoy to Kyiv on Wednesday to underline the importance of military aid from Washington.
Kyiv also cautioned that the move would weaken Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against intensifying Russian airstrikes and battlefield advances.
Mr Putin and Mr Trump’s phone call was the sixth they have publicly disclosed since the US president returned to the White House in January.
Donald Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ has been passed by the US congress, sending it to the president to sign into law.
The controversial tax breaks and spending cuts package cleared its final hurdle as the Republican-controlled House of Representatives narrowly approved the bill with a 218-214 vote.
The bill delivers tax breaks Mr Trump promised in his 2024 election campaign, cuts health and food safety programmes, and zeroes out dozens of green energy incentives.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), it will lower tax revenues by $4.5trn over 10 years and add $3.4trn to the US’s $36.2trn debt.
But despite concerns over the 869-page bill’s price tag – and its hit to healthcare programmes – Republicans largely lined up in support, with just two rebelling on the vote.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is congratulated following the vote. Pic: Reuters
Every Democrat in Congress voted against the bill, blasting it as a giveaway to the wealthy that will leave millions of Americans uninsured.
House Speaker Mike Johnson made the Republicans’ closing argument for the bill, telling Congress: “For everyday Americans, this means real, positive change that they can feel.”
Earlier, the House’s Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries gave a record-breaking eight-hour and 44-minute speech against it.
“The focus of this bill, the justification for all of the cuts that will hurt everyday Americans, is to provide massive tax breaks for billionaires,” he said.
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The bill’s spending cuts largely target Medicaid, the health programme that covers 71 million Americans on low incomes.
It will tighten enrolment standards, institute a work requirement and clamp down on a funding mechanism used by states to boost federal payments.
The changes could leave nearly 12 million people without health insurance, according to the CBO.
On the other side of the ledger, it will stave off tax increases that were due to hit most Americans at the end of the year, when tax cuts from President Trump’s first term were due to expire.
It also sets up new tax breaks for overtime pay, seniors and tipped income.
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The bill narrowly passed the US Senate on Tuesday after vice president JD Vance cast the deciding vote to break a 50-50 tie.
Mr Trump will sign it into law on Friday at 5pm local time (10pm in the UK), the White House said.
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