China's foreign ministry and defense ministry issued statements one after another regarding the shooting down of a high-altitude balloon after flying into US airspace, pointing out that the US "overreacted".

The analysis pointed out that how China can adjust the level of response to the incident and at the same time appease the anti-American voice of public opinion will be a difficult problem for leader Xi Jinping.

(Reuters file photo)

[Central News Agency] The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense have successively issued statements regarding the shooting down of a high-altitude balloon after flying into US airspace, pointing out that the US "overreacted".

The analysis pointed out that how China can adjust the level of response to the incident and at the same time appease the anti-American voice of public opinion will be a difficult problem for leader Xi Jinping.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement yesterday, expressing strong dissatisfaction and protest against the use of force by the United States to attack civilian unmanned airships. The right to further necessary reactions.

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The Chinese Ministry of National Defense issued a statement in the name of Tan Kefei, the spokesperson, pointing out that the US used force to attack the Chinese civilian unmanned airship.

The Chinese website of the New York Times reported on the 6th that the Chinese Internet is often a space for the exaggeration and spread of nationalist sentiments. Internet hardliners who voice their calls for confrontation with the United States will be difficult for the authorities to deal with. Even if Xi Jinping and other CCP leaders can ignore public pressure, they will Symbolic countermeasures to save face will also be required.

Xi Jinping is now struggling to deal with domestic pressures, the sudden abandonment of strict epidemic prevention measures for COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the continued sluggishness of the Chinese economy, the long-standing real estate crisis, and the development of the semiconductor industry being trapped by sanctions.

The report mentioned that regarding the US shooting down a Chinese-owned high-altitude balloon, some Chinese people strongly called on the Internet for a stronger and more forceful response to the US. Some militants even left a message saying, "Shoot down the US plane."

When Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives at the time, visited Taiwan last year, the Chinese people were overwhelmed by this, and angrily scolded the Chinese Air Force for not doing anything to make Pelosi's special plane change its flight route.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's planned visit to Beijing this week has been postponed due to the balloon incident.

Zhu Feng, executive dean of the School of International Relations at Nanjing University, said in an interview that Blinken's decision to call Wang Yi, China's top foreign policy official, about canceling his visit shows that both sides want to maintain communication.

Regarding the tension between China and the United States, Zhu Feng believes that even if the balloon incident subsides quickly, this incident also shows that the mutual trust between China and the United States has dropped to a certain level. More than 50 years ago, the ice-breaking of Sino-US relations began with ping-pong diplomacy.

Zhu Feng quoted an online repost saying, "Sino-US relations started with a small ball, and now they are in trouble because of a big ball or balloon." He never thought that this metaphor would happen.