China insists balloon for civilian use, accuses US of exaggerating dispute

China accused the US of exaggerating the dispute over a balloon the Biden administration says was conducting surveillance, signaling the nations remain at odds over an issue that’s rekindled tensions.

“The unintended entry into US airspace of a civilian, unmanned Chinese airship, this is an isolated, unexpected incident,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Friday at a regular news briefing in Beijing.

She called a House resolution condemning China for the incident “political manipulation and hype. We are firmly opposed to that.” In response to a query over whether the balloon’s maker had ties to the Chinese military, Mao said that “China has clearly informed the US side that the airship is for civilian use.”

The Biden administration presented its evidence in a State Department fact sheet on the balloon’s capabilities as well as in open hearings and closed briefings on Capitol Hill on Thursday. The effort is aimed at countering China’s insistence that the balloon was a harmless weather-monitoring device that blew off course.

The administration offered details including that high-resolution imagery provided by U-2 spy planes flying past the balloon revealed an array of surveillance equipment. That equipment could collect and geo-locate communications, and a solar array gave enough power to operate multiple collection sensors, officials said.

“This irresponsible act put on full display what we’ve long recognized as the PRC has become more repressive at home and more aggressive abroad,” Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told lawmakers, referring to China’s formal name, the People’s Republic of China.

The Biden administration said the manufacturer of the device, which it didn’t name, had a direct relationship with the People’s Liberation Army.

The Department of Commerce later added six Chinese entities to a sanctions list for their support of the Asian nation’s military efforts, specifically aerospace programs including airships and balloons.

The aircraft’s appearance last week led to Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponing a trip to China as part of an effort to repair strained ties between the world’s two largest economies. The visit, which would have been the first such trip in more than four years, could have included a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Xi’s talks with President Joe Biden in Indonesia in November had led to an easing of tensions that dated back to a trade war that broke out during the Trump administration.

China’s chargé d’affaires in Washington, Xu Xueyuan, told a virtual conference hosted by the U.S.-China Business Council on Wednesday that the two nations “shouldn’t let this incident offset efforts made to stabilize ties.”