According to President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping does not want to sour relations with the United States after the downing of a “spy” balloon over North America.
“I don’t think Xi intends to fundamentally destroy the relationship with the United States and with me,” Mr Biden told AWN News affiliate NBC News.
In prior remarks to the nation, Mr. Biden stated that three unidentified objects shot down by the US did not appear to be used for surveillance and were most likely associated with benign reasons.
According to the US president, the objects were “very likely” related to private firms or research organisations.
Relations between the United States and China have been rising since Washington shot down what it called a Chinese “spy” balloon over North American airspace.
According to the White House, China has a “high-altitude balloon programme” for intelligence gathering.
Three further mysterious objects were shot down by US fighter jets later that day, one over Alaska, another over Canada, and a third that crashed into Lake Huron.
“Nothing right now implies they were tied to the Chinese spy balloon programme, or they were surveillance vehicles from any other country,” Mr. Biden said.
The intelligence community believes the items were “most likely balloons associated with private companies, recreation, or research institutions,” he said.
He speculated that they were noticed because of increased radar in response to the Chinese balloon, and that his team was working on new parameters for when to launch missiles against such aircraft.
‘We are not seeking a new Cold War.’
The president stated that he would make no apologies for safeguarding America’s skies and that the country would increase its ability to identify unmanned objects in its airspace.
“We are not aiming for a new Cold War with China,” he declared.
The US president said he will discuss the balloon with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, and added, “I hope we can get to the bottom of this, but I make no apologies for bringing down that balloon.”
Beijing claims the 60-meter (200-foot) balloon was for weather monitoring, but America claims it was plainly a surveillance balloon with a large undercarriage housing electronics.
Iran has also claimed that the United States has flown ten items over its airspace, which Washington rejects.