BEIJING — China on Monday accused the US of indiscriminate use of power when the American army shot down a suspected Chinese language spy balloon Saturday.

The U.S. shot down a balloon off the Carolina coast after it traversed delicate army websites throughout North America. China insisted the flyover was an accident involving a civilian plane.

Vice International Minister Xie Feng stated he lodged a proper criticism with the U.S. Embassy on Sunday over the “U.S. assault on a Chinese language civilian unmanned airship by army power.”

The presence of the balloon within the skies above the U.S. dealt a extreme blow to already strained U.S.-Chinese language relations which were in a downward spiral for years. It prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to abruptly cancel a high-stakes Beijing journey geared toward easing tensions.

Xie repeated China’s insistence that the balloon was a Chinese language civil unmanned airship that blew into U.S. mistake, calling it “an unintended incident attributable to power majeure.”

China would “resolutely safeguard the respectable rights and pursuits of Chinese language corporations, resolutely safeguard China’s pursuits and dignity and reserve the fitting to make additional crucial responses,” he stated.

U.S. President Joe Biden issued the shootdown order after he was suggested that the perfect time for the operation can be when it was over water, U.S. officers stated. Army officers decided that bringing down the balloon over land from an altitude of 60,000 toes (18,000 meters) would pose an undue danger to folks on the bottom.

“What the U.S. has carried out has significantly impacted and broken each side’ efforts and progress in stabilizing Sino-U.S. relations for the reason that Bali assembly,” Xie stated, referring to the current assembly between Biden and his Chinese language counterpart Xi Jinping in Indonesia that many hoped would create constructive momentum for bettering ties which have spiraled to their lowest degree in years.