Biden won’t apologize to Xi for shooting down the spy balloon

US President Joe Biden said Thursday he plans to speak with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping about the “spy” balloon he ordered shot down on February 4, but announced that he won’t apologize for putting him down.

“I hope to talk to the president Xi and I want to get to the bottom of this matter. But I will not apologize for bursting that bubble,” the president said in an appearance before reporters at the White House.

Biden also warned that he will not hesitate to shoot down any flying object that poses a threat the american people.

A Chinese “spy” balloon was located in American airspace at the end of January, and was shot down over the waters of the Atlantic on February 4. For days, it flew over several areas of the country, such as the state of Montana (Northwest), where one of the three existing nuclear missile silo fields in the United States is located.

For its part, the Chinese government claims the balloon entered US airspace by mistake and claims it was used for meteorological purposes, not espionage.

In addition to the “spy” balloon, United Statess shot down three more flying objects in its territory last week and Canada, whose origins are being investigated by the US and Canadian authorities.

Biden said the latest flying objects appeared to have nothing to do with a Chinese “spy” balloon and that, in fact, U.S. intelligence agencies believed the balloons were “probably connected to private companies, recreational facilities” or research they devoted to studying meteorological phenomena or other scientific research.

The president added that there has been no increase in flying objects in US airspace and attributed the recent downing of those objects to changes in radar frequency made by the military following the discovery of the “spy” balloon. Chinese.

In order to solve this situation, Biden said that his adviser for Homeland Security Jake Sullivan is preparing new rules on the detection of flying objects in order to include them in the national defense strategy.

After years of tension with the administration of Republican Donald Trump (2017-2021), Biden and Xi met for the first time as presidents last year at the G20 in Bali in an attempt to reduce tensions and prevent rivalry between the two powers. to open conflict.

However, the discovery of the “spy balloons” revived tensions and led to the cancellation of a trip to China that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had planned to take.