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US attempts to dramatize balloon situation will be met ‘in·kind’ — Wang Yi

Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs added that "it is the US who is in fact the number one country in terms of surveillance, whose high-altitude balloons illegally flew over China multiple times"

BEIJING, February 19. /TASS/. China is ready to meet "in·kind" any possible attempts from the United States to aggravate the recent situation with high-altitude balloons, Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi said during a meeting on Saturday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Munich.

"It is the US who is in fact the number one country in terms of surveillance, whose high-altitude balloons illegally flew over China multiple times. The US is in no position to smear China. What the US needs to do is demonstrate sincerity, and face up to and resolve the damage that its abuse of force has done to China-US relations. If the US continues to dramatize, hype up or escalate the situation, it·will·be·met·in·kind·for·as·long· as·it·takes. All consequences arising thereof shall be borne by the US side," the statement on the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Blinken said earlier that Wang Yi did not apologize for the incident involving a Chinese balloon in US airspace during their meeting. According to Blinken, he told Wang Yi that [US] sovereignty and international law were violated in the balloon incident. "I told him quite simply that was unacceptable and can never happen again," Blinken added.

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