Beijing Feb 14 surveillance of other countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a briefing on Tuesday.
«Speaking of government surveillance, we want to note that the US is the number one country in the world, and the international community, including Europe, has personal experience in this matter,» he said.
Wang also noted that since 1997, the US military has invested billions of dollars in the research and development of high-altitude reconnaissance balloons. In 2022, the US military converted high-altitude balloons for military use, he said. They are now capable of carrying intelligence equipment that can be used to spy on Chinese and Russian hypersonic strategic cruise missiles.
On February 12, the US military shot down the fourth air object in the last eight days, including a Chinese balloon that crossed the US and intercepted over the Atlantic. In Washington they say that the balloon was launched for the purpose of espionage, in Beijing they say that we are talking about a lost civilian weather balloon. The ownership and purpose of the other three objects shot down the other day have not yet been determined, the Pentagon reported earlier.