China calls US House resolution ‘political manipulation’

BEIJING (AP) — China has dismissed a U.S. House of Representatives resolution condemning China over a suspected Chinese spy balloon shot down above U.S. waters as “purely political manipulation and hyping up.” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters at a daily briefing Friday that China was “strongly dissatisfied with this and firmly opposes it.” The resolution, which passed unanimously on Thursday, condemned China for a “brazen violation” of U.S. sovereignty and efforts to “deceive the international community through false claims about its intelligence collection campaigns.” Meanwhile, China’s Defense Ministry said it refused a call from U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after the downing of the balloon because the U.S. had “not created the proper atmosphere” for dialogue.