Lu Xiang, an American scholar at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that US actions against China's balloon could set a "very bad" precedent for relations between Washington and Beijing. This is reported by the Chinese newspaper Global Times.

According to the expert, United States aircraft (for civil or military purposes) fly around the territory of China much more often than Chinese aircraft around the United States.

“If the US does not distinguish between civil and military aircraft, then a very bad precedent has been set in China-US relations,” he said.

According to the publication, citing "think tanks and media reports," the American side is sometimes engaged in intelligence activities in the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea, the East China Sea, under the guise of civil aviation.

“If the US doesn't make a difference, should China make a difference? Should China also retaliate?” Lu Xiang asked.

He believes that the US should "thoroughly consider the consequences."

A Chinese military expert interviewed by the newspaper, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the US actions are, from a technical point of view, like "shooting a mosquito with a cannon." He also called them excessive and impractical. Using an advanced stealth fighter and a missile to destroy an unmanned, unpowered balloon is "too expensive," the expert said.

Earlier, Gazeta.Ru wrote that the US military shot down a civilian balloon belonging to China over US territory. In the United States, a Chinese balloon that flew across the country was considered a spy device. In Beijing, they said that the balloon is civilian and ended up over the United States by accident.