China’s top diplomat renews criticism of US balloon downing

MUNICH (AP) — China’s top diplomat has renewed Beijing’s criticism of the United States for shooting down what Washington says was a Chinese spy balloon, arguing that the move doesn’t point to U.S. strength. Beijing insists the white orb shot down off the Carolina coast was just an errant civilian airship used mainly for meteorological research that went off course due to winds and had only limited “self-steering” capabilities. Wang Yi is the director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs He repeated that insistence in a speech to the Munich Security Conference on Saturday and accused the U.S. of violating international legal norms in destroying the object with a missile fired from an Air Force fighter jet.