The US may rethink its China strategy as new information regarding Chinese balloons becomes available, Pentagon spokeswoman Melissa Dalton said. The US authorities also criticized China’s approach to contacts between the military of the two countries, calling it dangerous.
Ms. Dalton at the briefing said that the United States, in the course of work to raise the wreckage of the downed balloon, intends to assess its ability to collect information. “We are going to reassess our overall position, location and strategic approach,” she said (quoted by RIA Novosti).
The Pentagon is committed to maintaining open channels of communication between the US military and China, said Eli Ratner, Assistant Secretary of State for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs. However, as he recalled, China rejected the latest US request for negotiations through the military departments.
“Over the past few months, the People’s Liberation Army of China has continued to view the relationship between the military departments as something that can be turned on and off … We believe that this is really dangerous,” he said at a hearing in the Foreign Affairs Committee Senate (TASS quote).
In early February, the Pentagon spotted a reconnaissance balloon belonging to China in the sky over the United States. Beijing claimed it was a weather balloon that had gone off course. It was shot down at the behest of US President Joe Biden on February 4th. China said that the incident damaged the stabilization of bilateral relations, Mr. Biden does not think so.
Details – in the publication “Kommersant” “The balloon fell on Joe Biden.”
