China calls on US to manage differences over balloon after Senate’s unanimous condemnation

BEIJING – The United States should work with China to manage differences over the Chinese balloon that flew into US airspace, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday.

“The unintended entry of the Chinese civilian airship is an unexpected and isolated event,” spokesman Wang Wenbin told a press briefing, when responding to a question regarding US President Joe Biden’s planned speech over the balloon.

The US Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed a pair of resolutions condemning China for

sending a surveillance balloon over the United States,

joining the House in formally decrying an incident that has prompted a bipartisan chorus of demands for accountability on Capitol Hill.

The first of the two measures, written by Republican Senator Josh Hawley, condemns the Chinese Communist Party for an “invasion” of US airspace, while calling on the president to be “transparent with the American people and Congress” about the spy balloon incident and other attempts at espionage from China.

The second, a bipartisan resolution from both Democrat and Republican senators, rebukes China for a “brazen violation” of US sovereignty with the spy balloon. The balloon alarmed Montanans who spotted it in their skies on Feb 1, and it spent some time hovering near sensitive military sites in the state.

Together, the measures bring the Senate into line with a gesture the House first made last week, when that chamber unanimously passed a resolution condemning the Chinese Communist Party for sending the balloon over US airspace.

That resolution was crafted to focus acutely on China over the suggestion of some House Republican leaders, who initially floated the idea of condemning Mr Biden personally over the incident, as many Republican members were already doing publicly.

Although Mr Hawley was among those who

criticised Mr Biden for his handling of the spy balloon incident

and its aftermath, the text of his resolution was more restrained.

“China’s decision to send a surveillance balloon into US airspace was a gross violation of American sovereignty and it will not be tolerated,” Mr Hawley said in a statement Wednesday evening. “We must send a message – and get the facts from this administration about what’s going on in our skies, while we’re at it.”

The Senate’s bipartisan resolution also asked the administration to describe how it plans to work with other countries affected by such balloons, and to assess the value of the intelligence gained from allowing the balloon to cross several American states before bringing it down. NYTIMES