Biden troubled that China did not take Pentagon call over balloon incident
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Mr Joe Biden said it was irrelevant if China knew that the balloon would cross the US.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - US President Joe Biden said he was troubled that China declined to take a call from Pentagon officials over the alleged spy balloon that crossed the United States.
“There should be a direct, open line of communications” between the two nations, Mr Biden said in an interview with ABC News on Friday, when asked about the episode.
The President added that it was important for “the two most powerful nations in the world to be able to resolve anything quickly, so there is not a mistake made”.
Asked how he would resolve the issue with Beijing, Mr Biden said: “We make it clear it’s necessary for that to occur, we can’t fix it.”
Mr Biden’s remarks came against a backdrop of questions over the Chinese balloon that traversed the US before being shot down off the Atlantic coast.
The US says it was a spy balloon and has been studying wreckage recovered off South Carolina; only a weather balloon that blew off course.
Mr Biden on Friday said it was irrelevant if China knew the balloon would cross the US.
“It is almost not relevant once it was over the United States,” Mr Biden said, and repeated US claims that the device was for surveillance.
“That is what that balloon does, surveillance.”
But Mr Biden acknowledged there was a chance that Chinese President Xi Jinping did not know the balloon was over the US.
“There is a possibility of that,” he said. BLOOMBERG
