China Rejects Japan Claims on Balloons

By Kiyota Higa / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

18:46 JST, February 15, 2023

BEIJING — A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson objected strongly Wednesday to the Japanese government’s announcement that unmanned surveillance balloons, deemed to have been controlled by China, had been confirmed in Japanese airspace three times since November 2019.

“We firmly reject Japan’s attack on China, made without firm evidence of the claim,” the spokesperson said at a regular press conference.