The Chinese language International Ministry warned of countermeasures to punish US entities on Wednesday after Washington “overreacted” to an alleged Chinese language spy balloon in American airspace by taking pictures down the unmanned airship and imposing sanctions.

“The US has abused drive, overreacted, escalated the state of affairs, and used this as a pretext to illegally sanction Chinese language corporations and establishments,” International Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin instructed reporters at a briefing in Beijing. “China is firmly against this and can take countermeasures towards related US entities that undermine China’s sovereignty and safety in accordance with the legislation.”

Wang supplied no specifics on what retaliatory measures are deliberate. He made his feedback after Washington added six Chinese language entities with alleged hyperlinks to China’s supposed spy balloon program to an export blacklist.

Chinese language officers have claimed that the balloon that crossed North America earlier this month was an unmanned civilian airship that was blown off target and inadvertently entered US airspace. A US Air Power fighter jet shot down the balloon on February 4 off the coast of South Carolina. Days later, President Joe Biden’s administration claimed that the flight was a part of a Chinese language spying program that has focused greater than 40 nations.

Beijing has denied these allegations and countered that the US routinely sends spy balloons over China. Wang stated Washington has flown high-altitude balloons over Chinese language airspace greater than 10 occasions since Might 2022, together with flights over its Xinjiang and Tibet areas.

Requested about allegations that Chinese language propagandists had tried to distract from questions on high-altitude surveillance by exaggerating a latest Ohio prepare derailment and selling a declare that US forces blew up Russia’s Nord Stream pipelines, Wang advised that Washington is the one attempting to deflect individuals’s consideration.

Western media retailers, which beforehand speculated that Russia sabotaged its personal pipelines, had been silent after US journalist Seymour Hersh reported final week that Biden’s administration was behind the Nord Stream bombing, Wang stated. He added that many Individuals are questioning why the US authorities and media are “glossing over” the prepare derailment whereas persevering with to hype the balloon incident. “Individuals are questioning, what are they attempting to cover?”

The derailment occurred on February 3, sooner or later earlier than the Chinese language airship was shot down. The prepare was hauling harmful chemical substances, together with vinyl chloride, which leaked into close by waterways, reaching the Ohio River and killing wildlife. Officers determined to conduct a “managed burn” of the chemical substances, which ignited into a large black cloud of poisons that billowed over the world.