Chinese balloon: Joe Biden wants to talk to Xi Jinping but is not looking for the “cold war”


Joe Biden wants to “speak to (Chinese) President Xi Jinping” about the Chinese balloon shot down by the Americans, but assured Thursday that he did not want a “cold war” with Beijing. The US president spoke to Americans for the first time on Thursday about a series of recent incidents: the downing on February 4 of a Chinese balloon that Washington said was carrying out a spy mission, and that, the 10 , February 11 and 12 of “objects” for the time being unidentified.

“We do not want a new Cold War” and “will continue to talk with China,” said the American president in a short speech. “I hope I can speak with President Xi and get to the bottom of this matter, but I make no apologies for bringing down this balloon,” he added. This decision to destroy the aircraft, which Beijing describes as a weather research balloon that involuntarily drifted into American airspace, sends “a clear message”, judged Joe Biden, that “any violation of our sovereignty is inadmissible “.

“These three objects are probably linked to private companies”

“If a (flying) object poses a threat to the safety of Americans, I will shoot it down,” the 80-year-old Democrat said again, defending his decisions. However, he admitted, as did other American officials, that “nothing for the moment” showed that the three “objects” recently destroyed were “linked to the Chinese spy balloon program, nor that they were surveillance devices. from another country.”

“These three objects are probably linked to private companies, leisure activities or scientific research institutions,” said the American president. “We don’t have evidence that there has been a sudden increase in the number of objects in the American sky,” he said, “but we are seeing them more” due in part to a change in speed camera settings.

“A better inventory” of flying objects

The president claims to have asked his administration to draw up a “better inventory” of flying objects in the American sky, and indicates that he has established a dialogue with the allies of the United States on the espionage program that China is conducting according to him. Joe Biden ordered the last three destruction operations in the name of air transport security, which the White House said could have been compromised by these “objects” flying at altitudes close to those of airliners.

In the case of the Chinese balloon, the Republican opposition had criticized him for having waited too long before having it shot down. The remains of these flying “objects” will be analyzed to determine with certainty their nature, their use or their origin, but the recovery operations promise to be uncertain given that they were shot down over frozen waters or in remote areas, said John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council of the American executive, on Tuesday.

The American president was under pressure to speak on the subject which has poisoned diplomatic relations between the United States and China for several weeks, the two countries accusing each other of espionage.



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