“Indeed, what happened between China and the United States in the past few years has reduced the mutual trust between the two countries.”
The balloon incident prompted Blinken to cancel his trip to China, saying “it would not be appropriate to visit Beijing at this time” because of the “irresponsible act”.
In a call with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, on Saturday, Blinken said the incident was “a clear violation of US sovereignty and international law that undermined the purpose of the trip”, adding “he would be prepared to visit Beijing as soon as conditions allow”.
“In my opinion, the so-called visit is inappropriate, because the US has recently carried out many anti-China activities, including in military planning, technology, the Taiwan question, and other aspects,” Lu said, according to a transcript from the Chinese embassy.
He cited efforts by the US and allies such as Japan and South Korea to “encircle” China, plans for expanded US access to Philippine bases, sanctions on Chinese technology companies, arms sales to Taiwan and the possibility of the US House speaker visiting the island.
“In my opinion, even if Blinken goes to China, it will not play any positive role,” he said.
He said the visit was supposed to build on the meeting between presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping when they met in Bali last year. “But the United States has already broken these consensuses before his visit, what’s the point of his visit?” Lu said.
A US military fighter jet shot down the Chinese balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday.
02:43
‘A clear overreaction’: Beijing rebukes Washington for shooting down Chinese balloon
Lu said balloons from other countries had previously strayed into Chinese airspace, citing media reports and discussions on social media, but said Beijing had preferred to deal with them in a “low-key” manner.
He said China shot down balloons when there were “strong suspicions about the motives”, but in this case: “What is shocking is that the Americans had already expressed understanding vis-à-vis China’s explanations and had apparently promised not to shoot it down.”
China had told the US it was a civilian vessel used to monitor the weather that had strayed off course “completely accidentally”.
China’s ambassador to France Lu Shaye is seen as one of the most prominent and outspoken Wolf Warriors. Photo: AFP
“I feel that the US accepted China’s explanation at the beginning,” Lu said, citing a previous Pentagon statement saying the airship would not pose a risk to the military or people on the ground, and “they asked China to let the airship leave US airspace as soon as possible”.
“However, what is incomprehensible is that after asking the Chinese side to do that, they shot it down the next day, just when the balloon was already on the point of leaving.”
The ambassador said it was highly likely that the airship deviated from its planned course because it could not be precisely manoeuvred.
