Not looking for cold war: Biden to speak with China’s Xi after balloon incident

Amidst growing tension with China in the wake of the downing of a suspected spy balloon, US President Joe Biden on Thursday said he expects to speak with China’s Xi Jinping.

On February 4, US fighter jets shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina. Three other high-flying objects were shot down by American fighter jets – two in the US and one in Canada.

“We are not looking for a new cold war,” Biden was quoted by Reuters as saying.

In his most extensive remarks about the Chinese balloon and three unidentified objects downed by US fighters, the US President said, “The United States was continuing to engage diplomatically with China on the issue.”

“I expect to be speaking with President Xi. I hope we are going to get to the bottom of this, but I make no apologies for taking down that balloon,” Biden said in response to complaints from Beijing.

And on February 13, US military fighter jets shot down an octagonal object over Lake Huron, the fourth flying object to be shot down over North America by a US missile in a little more than a week.

‘NO INDICATION THAT OBJECTS LINKED TO CHINESE SPY PROGRAMME’
“The three high-flying objects which were shot down over American and Canadian airspace this month were not related to the Chinese balloon programme, but most likely tied to private companies, recreation, or research institutions,” the President said.

“We don’t yet know exactly what these three objects were, but nothing right now suggests they were related to China’s spy balloon programme or that they were surveillance vehicles from any other country,” he said.

“The US and Canadian military are seeking to recover the debris so they can learn more about these three objects. The intelligence community is still assessing all three incidences. They’re reported to him daily and will continue their urgent efforts to do so, and he will communicate that to the Congress,” Biden said.

The President also said the US is developing “sharper rules” to track, monitor and potentially shoot down unknown aerial objects.

“That’s why I’ve directed my team to come back to me with sharper rules for how we will deal with these unidentified objects moving forward, distinguishing between those that are likely to pose safety and security risks that necessitate action and those that do not,” he said.

CHINESE SPY BALLOON ROW
The Chinese spy balloon that the US shot down over the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month carried high-tech equipment capable of collecting communications signals and other sensitive information, the Biden administration said. The spy balloon was equipped to detect and collect intelligence signals as part of a huge, military-linked aerial surveillance program that targeted more than 40 countries, the Biden government said.

A week-long Chinese spying balloon saga that drew the global spotlight has further strained the ties between the two nations.The incident prompted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a planned February visit to Beijing, where both sides had planned to seek to stabilise already fraught relations.

Blinken’s scheduled attendance at the Munich Security Conference this coming weekend has raised speculation that he could meet China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, there, reported Reuters.

Asked in advance about Biden’s remarks, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman on Thursday once again referred to the downed balloon as an “unmanned civilian airship,” and said its flight into US airspace was an “isolated” incident.

The US “should be willing to meet China in the middle, manage differences and appropriately handle isolated, unexpected incidents to avoid misunderstandings and misjudgments; and promote the return of US-China relations to a healthy and stable development track,” spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters at a regular briefing.

Beijing has warned of “countermeasures against relevant US entities that undermine China’s sovereignty and security”.