China says U.S. balloons flew over its airspace more than 10 times

HONG KONG — China said Monday that high-altitude balloons belonging to the United States had flown over its airspace without permission more than 10 times since early last year.

“It is nothing rare for U.S. balloons to illegally enter other countries’ airspace,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a regular news briefing.

“The U.S. should first reflect upon itself and change course instead of smearing other countries,” he added.

Wang did not provide further details about the alleged incursions or say whether the balloons appeared to be military in nature or used for spying purposes. He said China reserves the right to use “any necessary means” to deal with such situations.

Beijing also said it had no information on three more unidentified high-altitude objects that have been shot down over North America since the U.S. military downed a Chinese surveillance balloon.

U.S. officials were not immediately available for comment.