Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in response to media inquiries on January 17, "China welcomes US Secretary of State Blinken's visit to China. China and the United States are maintaining communication on relevant specific arrangements." Claiming in name, "In fact, neither China nor the US has announced any visits. The release of relevant news by the US is the US's own business, and we respect it."

(Photo by European News Agency)

[Central News Agency] After the Chinese reconnaissance balloon invaded the U.S. airspace, the Chinese side first argued that it was for "civilian use", and then delayed Blinken's visit to China, claiming that the two sides "did not announce any visit."

However, China only publicly welcomed Blinken's visit to China and the introduction of military balloons by the military newspaper in January, which caused the defense to be slapped in the face one after another.

A Chinese spy balloon caused an uproar after it was spotted high in the sky near a military fort in Montana, USA.

For this reason, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's planned visit to China has been postponed, and U.S.-China relations have once again become tense.

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An embarrassing China defended this one after another.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement in the name of an "unnamed spokesperson" on the evening of the 3rd, saying that the unmanned airship came from China "it is of a civilian nature and is used for scientific research such as meteorology" and was seriously deviated from it due to the influence of the westerly winds and "limited self-control ability". Book a route.

China expresses regret that the airship strayed into the United States due to "force majeure".

After Blinken announced the postponement of his visit to China, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a statement in the name of an unnamed spokesperson on the morning of the 4th, declaring that "in fact, neither China nor the United States have announced any visits. We respect our own affairs."

The Chinese Foreign Ministry's statement that "neither side has announced any visits" surprised the outside world.

But then some Chinese netizens found evidence and pointed out that Wang Wenbin, the spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in response to media inquiries on January 17, "China welcomes US Secretary of State Blinken to visit China, and China and the United States are maintaining communication on relevant specific arrangements." It directly slaps the above-mentioned statement that "no visits have been announced".

As for the use of reconnaissance balloons for "civilian scientific research", some netizens quoted an article in the People's Liberation Army Daily on February 11, 2022 titled "Military Air Balloons: Floating in the Cracks of the Battlefield".

The content mentioned that high-altitude balloons can carry solar cells and related reconnaissance, surveillance, and communication equipment, and stay tens of thousands of meters high for a long time, acting as an "ultra-low orbit satellite".

This means that even so-called "civil research" balloons can have reconnaissance functions after carrying relevant equipment.

In addition, on February 28 of the same year, Observer.com published an article on the report of the discovery of Communist military balloons over Taiwan, admitting that "military balloons are not just nonsense."

At the Zhuhai Air Show in 2021, China Aviation Industry, China Electronics Technology, and Aerospace Science and Industry have displayed a variety of high-altitude tethered balloons that can be equipped with radar photoelectric detection equipment.