The controversy
China on Monday accused the United States of indiscriminate use of force two days after the American military shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon, saying that had “seriously impacted and damaged both sides’ efforts and progress in stabilising Sino-US relations”.
US action
The US shot down a 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.
Visit cancelled
The presence of the balloon in the skies above the US dealt a severe blow to already strained US-Chinese relations that have been in a downward spiral for years.
It prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to abruptly cancel a high-stakes Beijing trip aimed at easing tensions.
US-China tussle
Both sides have long disagreed over the presence of US warships in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, which China claims as its own waters and the US considers international waters.
What is remarkable about the balloon incident is China has asserted its physical presence well within America’s sovereign borders.
Laws of the skies
Every country has “complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above its territory” under international conventions. But the upper limit of sovereign airspace is unsettled in international law.
In practice, it generally extends to the maximum height at which commercial and military aircraft operate, which is around 45,000 feet (about 13.7km). The Chinese balloon was reported to be operating at a distance of 60,000 feet.