At a White House briefing on the 16th local time, President Biden explained the process of shooting down a Chinese reconnaissance balloon found over Alaska on the 28th of last month on the 4th, insisting on its legitimacy.
President Biden said, “We sent a clear message that we will not tolerate any violations of our sovereignty and that we will act to defend our country, and we did.”
At the same time, he reaffirmed his position that “we will responsibly manage competition with China so that it does not escalate into a conflict.”
“I expect to speak with President Xi Jinping,” he said. “I hope to definitely resolve this issue, but I do not apologize for shooting down the balloon.”