Bilateral tensions between the United States and China have escalated recently, with Beijing accusing the US of flying high altitude balloons without permission, a charge swiftly denied by the White House. On Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin publicly accused the US of "illegally" infiltrating China's airspace over a dozen times since January 2022. Without providing any evidence, Wang argued it is "common for US balloons to illegally enter other countries' airspace."

The US denied the allegations, with the National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson labeling them as an attempt at damage control. She explained that "It is China that has a high-altitude surveillance balloon program for intelligence collection, that it has used to violate the sovereignty of the US and over 40 countries across 5 continents," adding that "China has repeatedly and wrongly claimed the surveillance balloon it sent over the US