China urges NATO to stop baseless accusations

Beijing calls on the North Atlantic Alliance to stop slandering China and creating imaginary enemies. According to TASS, this was stated by the official representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wang Wenbin.

“China calls on NATO to stop making baseless accusations against the PRC, stop creating imaginary enemies, stop expanding and exceeding its powers,” Wang Wenbin said in response to a request to comment on NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s claims that China and Russia have stepped up intelligence against the countries of the alliance.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman also urged NATO to do more practical things for international peace and stability.

Earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference in Brussels that unidentified balloons over the United States are a sign of increased intelligence from China and Russia against the countries of the alliance.

At the end of January, US authorities spotted a Chinese balloon over the mainland at an altitude well above the standard for commercial air travel, and it did not pose a threat to people on the ground. On February 4, the US military shot down this alleged “reconnaissance balloon” within national airspace. According to the Pentagon, he was engaged in “collecting important information.” The Chinese Foreign Ministry protested in this regard, emphasizing that the meteorological balloon that had lost control had a civilian purpose.

Last week, the North American Joint Aerospace Defense Command registered three more “unidentified objects”, two of which were shot down by the US military in national airspace, and one more over Canadian territory. It was noted that all three objects were much smaller than the Chinese balloon, were at a lower altitude and were not outwardly similar to it. The last one was destroyed on Sunday over Lake Huron on the border between the US and Canada, its wreckage, presumably, fell into Canadian territorial waters.