On Monday, China accused the United States of illegally flying high-altitude balloons into Chinese airspace more than 10 times since January 2022. The accusation, made by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, claimed that it was “common” for US balloons to enter other countries’ airspace. In response, the White House issued an immediate rebuttal, repudiating Beijing’s claims. Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, argued that it is China that has a high-altitude surveillance balloon program for intelligence collection and accused Beijing of “scrambling to do damage control.”

Wenbin also claimed that the US frequently sends warships and planes to carry out close-range reconnaissance against China, totaling 657 times last year and 64 times this January in the South China Sea. The White House's rebuttal did not address this, instead arguing