Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng said that the US actions against the Chinese balloon damaged the process of stabilizing relations between the two countries. His words are quoted by China Central Television.

"The actions of the United States have seriously affected and harmed the efforts of both sides in the process of stabilizing Sino-American relations after the meeting in Bali," said Xie Feng.

The diplomat stressed that China strongly protests the incident and urges the United States not to take further actions that harm China's interests and not escalate tensions.

Earlier it was reported that Beijing made a serious representation to Washington for the destruction of a Chinese balloon in the airspace of the United States.

On February 5, 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.