When a bully meets a wimp.-----China Threatens Repercussions for Downed Spy Balloon, Reserves ‘the Right to Take Further Actions in Response’

China Threatens Repercussions for Downed Spy Balloon, Reserves ‘the Right to Take Further Actions in Response’

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military on Saturday shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast after it traversed sensitive military sites across North America.
China insisted the flyover was an accident involving a civilian aircraft and threatened repercussions.
...China responded that it reserved the right to “take further actions” and criticized the U.S. for “an obvious overreaction and a serious violation of international practice.”

• ...“Allowing a spy balloon from the Communist Party of China to travel across the entire continental United States before contesting its presence is a disastrous projection of weakness by the White House,” said Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
• ...Uncensored reactions on the Chinese internet mirrored the official government stance that the U.S. was hyping the situation. Some used it as a chance to poke fun at U.S. defenses, saying it couldn’t even defend against a balloon, and nationalist influencers leaped to use the news to mock the U.S...