(Washington) Joe Biden said Thursday he wanted to “talk” to Chinese President Xi Jinping about the Chinese balloon shot down on February 4 as it flew over the United States, an incident that caused a further chill in relations between the two countries.
“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 said in his first public address on the matter.
“We do not want a new Cold War,” assured the Head of State.
The overflight of American territory by this aircraft, which Washington accused of espionage, had prompted the cancellation in extremis of a rare visit to Beijing by American Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
PHOTO MANDEL NGAN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
US President Joe Biden
China had for its part expressed its “strong dissatisfaction” after the American fighter had shot down the aircraft, a simple weather research balloon having drifted involuntarily in American airspace according to it.
Beijing had confirmed that it refused a phone call from Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin after the destruction, which occurred off South Carolina. China in turn accused American balloons of flying over its territory, which Washington denied.
This decision to shoot down the aircraft sends “a clear message”, Joe Biden judged on Thursday: “Any violation of our sovereignty is inadmissible”. “If a (flying) object poses a threat to the safety of Americans, I will shoot it down,” he said.
Sino-American relations had already deteriorated after the August visit to Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Beijing had responded by conducting near this island that it claims large-scale military exercises, presenting them as a response to “provocations” from the United States.
“Strong” commitment to Taiwan
On Thursday, the Financial Times reported that a senior Defense Department official, Michael Chase, was about to pay a visit to Taiwan.
Contacted by AFP, a Pentagon spokesman, Marty Meiners, did not wish to comment on this information, stressing however that the American “commitment” alongside Taiwan remained “rock solid” in the face of the “threat Chinese.
Taiwanese Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said Friday morning that he could not “confirm at this stage” a possible American visit, while specifying that his country was ready to welcome any help to “strengthen” its defense.
Mr. Biden assured Thursday that he wanted to “continue to talk with China”. “We are looking for competition, not conflict,” he stressed.
The balloon incident “underscores the importance of keeping lines of communication open between our diplomats and our military”, insisted the American president.
He also admitted, like other American officials before him, that “nothing for the moment” showed that three other “objects” destroyed on February 10, 11 and 12 and for the time being unidentified, were “linked to the Chinese spy balloon program.
“These three objects are probably linked to private companies, leisure activities or scientific research institutions,” said the American president.
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.
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.