The Chinese government said Wednesday that it rejected a proposal by the U.S. Defense Department to allow ministers from the two countries to talk after the downing of a Chinese balloon over the Atlantic Ocean last week.
The Chinese Defense Ministry explained in a statement that it rejected a possible call from Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin because of the «irresponsible and wrong» decision by U.S. officials, who suspect the balloon’s intentions.
«The United States insists on using force to attack unmanned civilian aircraft,» Beijing has criticized in its note, which has denied accusations of alleged espionage claiming that the downed device was only for scientific purposes.
Given this «bad precedent», the Chinese government considers that there are no circumstances to engage in a minimum dialogue and, therefore, reserves the right to adopt future retaliatory measures about which it has not given details for now.
On the other hand, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has branded as «very irresponsible», contrary even to «basic diplomatic protocols», that US President Joe Biden said in a recent interview that his counterpart Xi Jinping is facing «huge problems», both politically and economically.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
