China criticizes "absurd actions" by the US

After several days, the United States stopped searching for two unidentified flying objects that had also been taken from the sky after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was shot down. According to the army, no debris could be found during the search in the north of the Americas. This was announced by the US Northern Command (Northcom) on Friday evening via Twitter.

At the Munich Security Conference (MSC), China's top diplomat Wang Yi demanded that the United States refrain from such "absurd actions" - meaning the repeated shooting down of flying objects in the past two weeks - in the future.

The two objects had been launched over Alaska and the vast Lake Huron. The rubble may now never be discovered. The army said a systematic search lasting several days using aerial photographs and sensors did not yield any results. In Alaska, arctic weather also made work difficult. Canadian authorities also participated in the operations. The US military initially gave no information on a third object shot down over Canada.

According to US intelligence services, the three objects most likely belonged to private companies or scientific institutions and were on their way for research purposes. US President Joe Biden said on Friday that the missiles were probably not related to the allegations against China.

China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, slammed America's completion of a Chinese balloon as grossly excessive. Washington was told it was a weather balloon that had gone astray, said former Foreign Minister Wang Yi. There are many such balloons in the world. “To shoot down all these balloons is not possible. That doesn't show American strength either – on the contrary,” he adds. Beijing urged the US to refrain from "absurd acts".

First, a balloon was discovered in North American airspace which, according to US authorities, was used by China for espionage purposes. The balloon was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina on February 4th. According to the army on Friday, the recovery of the rubble has now ended. The remains are now being investigated by the FBI's counterintelligence agency.