China warns that US will suffer ‘consequences’ if it escalates spy balloon incident

Beijing will 'follow through to the end' if US insists on 'taking advantage' of the issue, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.

The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, US on 4 February 2023 | Reuters

Beijing: China warned the United States on Sunday it would “bear all the consequences” if it escalated the controversy over a Chinese balloon that the U.S. military shot down this month.

Beijing will “follow through to the end” in the event “the U.S. insists on taking advantage of the issue”, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

A U.S. military jet on Feb. 4 shot down what Washington calls a Chinese spy balloon after it had crossed North America. Beijing says it was an errant weather-monitoring craft.

China’s statement followed a meeting between top diplomat Wang Yi and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

(Reporting by The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, US on 4 February 2023 | Reuters
; Editing by William Mallard)

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