China on Thursday said U.S. accusations that a downed Chinese balloon was part of an extensive surveillance program amount to "information warfare against China."
The Pentagon on Wednesday said the Chinese balloon shot down off the South Carolina coast Saturday was part of a program involving a number of such airships that China has been operating for "several years."
At Thursday's daily briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning repeated China´s insistence that the large unmanned balloon was a civilian meteorological airship that had accidentally blown off course and that the U.S. had "overreacted" by shooting it down.
"It is irresponsible," Mao said at a daily briefing. The latest accusations "may be part of the U.S. side´s information warfare against China."
China's defense minister refused to take a phone call from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to discuss the balloon issue on Saturday, the Pentagon said, and China has not answered questions as to what government department or company the balloon belonged to, or how it planned to follow up on a pledge to take further ac ..
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