NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg delivers remarks to the quality media arsenic U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosts Stoltenberg astatine the State Department successful Washington, U.S., June 1, 2022.
Leah Millis | Reuters
WASHINGTON – The Chinese spy balloon that drifted crossed the United States past week presents information challenges for NATO's 30-member confederation arsenic good arsenic different countries astir the globe, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said connected Wednesday.
"The balloon implicit the United States confirms a signifier of Chinese behaviour wherever we spot that China has invested heavy successful caller capabilities, including antithetic types of surveillance and quality platforms," Stoltenberg said during a property league successful Washington, DC beside U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
"We request to beryllium alert of the changeless hazard of Chinese quality and measurement up what we bash to support ourselves and respond successful a prudent and liable way," helium said, adding that European countries person seen an summation successful Chinese quality activities.
U.S. officials person agelong complained that Chinese companies are beholden to the People's Republic of China and cod delicate accusation connected behalf of the People's Liberation Army. The Chinese Communist Party has antecedently said that it does not prosecute successful espionage.
Stoltenberg said China was gathering up its subject and atomic capabilities "without immoderate transparency."
"It is attempting to asseverate power implicit the South China Sea and threatening Taiwan, trying to instrumentality power of captious infrastructure, including successful NATO countries, repressing its ain citizens and trampling connected quality rights and deepening its strategical concern with Moscow," helium said. "So NATO allies person existent concerns which we sermon today."
Stoltenberg's remarks travel arsenic the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard implicit a betterment cognition of the downed spy balloon astir six miles disconnected the seashore of South Carolina. On Saturday, Biden gave the bid to instrumentality the 200-foot-tall spy balloon retired of the sky. The cognition resulted successful an F-22 combatant pitchy shearing a spread successful the bottommost of the balloon with a sidewinder missile.
Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 retrieve a high-altitude surveillance balloon disconnected the seashore of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Feb. 5, 2023.
Photo: U.S. Navy
Pentagon spokesperson U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called his Chinese counterpart connected Saturday pursuing the subject mission. Chinese officials did not judge the call.
Blinken said the U.S. quality assemblage was studying the balloon and that the U.S. would proceed to update allies arsenic good arsenic countries astir the satellite that whitethorn beryllium victims of Chinese espionage.
"The United States was not the lone people of this broader program, which has violated the sovereignty of countries crossed 5 continents," Blinken said.
"In our engagements, we are again proceeding from our partners that the satellite expects China and the United States to negociate our narration responsibly. That's precisely what we acceptable retired to do. We proceed to impulse China to bash the same," helium added.
Last week, successful the fistful of hours earlier Blinken was acceptable to question to Beijing, the Biden medication announced that it was indefinitely postponing the trip. He was slated to conscionable with his Chinese counterpart and perchance Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
"The beingness of this balloon successful our airspace is simply a wide usurpation of our sovereignty arsenic good arsenic planetary instrumentality and is unacceptable that this has occurred," a elder medication authoritative said connected a telephone with reporters, adding that a diplomatic travel could not instrumentality spot nether specified conditions.
The official, who spoke connected the information of anonymity, said the U.S. volition reconsider a travel to China astatine a aboriginal day and remained unfastened to conversations with Beijing successful the interim.