China’s top diplomat lashed out at the U.S., calling President Joe Biden’s decision to shoot a balloon over American air space and the heightened state of alert “incomprehensible and almost hysterical.”
The comments by Wang Yi, who holds the top foreign-policy position in China’s ruling Communist Party, increased tensions the Biden administration, which says the floating object was being used for spying. He spoke at the Munich Security Conference, where Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken were also holding meetings.
“It is 100% an abuse of military force, and clearly violated international norms,” Wang told government officials and experts in the German city Saturday. He earlier made similar comments after meeting Pakistan’s foreign minister.
In some of the most fiery comments yet over the incident, Wang reinforced Beijing’s position that the balloon was for civilian use and criticized the U.S. for ignoring “the most basic facts.” Harris and Blinken don’t yet have plans to meet with Wang as of Saturday, amid speculation of a face-to-face meeting on the sidelines of the conference in the Bavarian capital.
The downing of a balloon over the Atlantic coast prompted Blinken to postpone a visit to China, disrupting efforts to stabilize relations between the two countries. The U.S. leader said Friday that he aims to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping to “get to the bottom” of the balloon spat, without specifying when.
While China initially expressed regret over what it said was the balloon’s accidental diversion over U.S. territory, it has denied that the craft was intended for surveillance and denounced the decision to shoot it down as an overreaction.
Wang also pilloried U.S. policy on trade and Taiwan, calling the CHIPS Act to spur U.S. semiconductor production “100% protectionism” and a violation of World Trade Organization rules. Taiwan, which the U.S. has vowed to protect military and which China regards as its territory, “will never be a country,” Wang said.
Wang is visiting Germany on the heels of trips to France and Italy, where he sought to reboot ties with Europe and called for more cooperation on tech issues and trade, underscoring efforts by Beijing to counter what it sees as U.S. containment.
Wang is also expected to visit Hungary before traveling to Moscow, almost a year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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(With assistance from Jennifer Jacobs and Courtney McBride.)
