China’s defence ministry on Sunday protested in opposition to the U.S. “assault” of an unmanned Chinese language airship in the USA, saying that it was an “apparent overreaction”.

China reserves the precise to make use of the mandatory means to cope with related conditions, stated Tan Kefei, a ministry spokesman, in an announcement, with out elaborating.

A U.S. navy fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese language spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, every week after it first entered U.S. airspace and triggered a dramatic – and public – spying saga that worsened Sino-U.S. relations.

China has stated the craft was a climate balloon blown astray.