BEIJING, February 14. /TASS/. The US is the number one country in the world for secret surveillance of other states, including European countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a briefing Tuesday.

"We want to point out that when it comes to national surveillance, the United States is deservedly the number one country in the world for surveillance [of others], and the international community, including Europe, has seen this through its experience," Wang Wenbin said in reply to a TASS request to comment on NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's claims of increased Chinese and Russian espionage against alliance countries.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a news conference in Brussels on Monday that the unidentified balloons over the United States were a sign of increased Chinese and Russian intelligence against the alliance countries.