Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Xie Feng lodged an official protest with the United States Embassy on Monday over Washington's decision to shoot down a Chinese balloon in its airspace. Beijing insists that the balloon accidentally crossed into US territory and that it was not sent there for surveillance purposes.
Xie added that the incident "severely impacted and undermined the efforts and process both sides have been engaged in toward stabilizing the China-US relationship" since last year's G20 summit in Indonesia. He also urged the US "not to take further actions that will undermine China's interests or expand tensions between the countries."
