• John Kirby denied the operation of surveillance planes in Chinese airspace.
• China asserts sovereignty over substantial portions of the South China Sea.
• The US and China are currently embroiled in a disagreement.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Monday that there are no American surveillance planes operating in Chinese airspace but would not go into further detail when pressed by reporters about if such aircraft are present in areas that China claims.

China claimed that more than ten times since the start of 2022, American high-altitude balloons had crossed its airspace without permission. The US government promptly and forcefully refuted this claim.

The US military frequently conducts operations in the East and South China Seas, where China claims contested waters. Additionally, it claims that Taiwan’s island is part of its jurisdiction.

When questioned if the United States was operating aircraft in Chinese-claimed airspace as opposed to above China’s internationally recognized territory, Kirby reaffirmed, “There is no US surveillance aircraft in Chinese airspace.”

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Separately, Wendy Sherman, the deputy secretary of state, declared that there are no US government balloons over China.

“None. Zero. Period,” she said at a news conference in Washington with her Japanese and South Korean counterparts.

China asserts sovereignty over substantial portions of the South China Sea, which is also claimed by Brunei, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

The US military performs what it calls freedom of navigation operations in disputed waters close to atolls where Beijing has established military sites, and it backed a 2016 UNCLOS decision that largely invalidated China’s claims to maritime rights in the South China Sea.

These actions infuriate Beijing, which charges Washington with undermining regional stability and igniting a diplomatic crisis over maritime issues.

The United States and China are currently embroiled in a disagreement that started when the American military fired down what it believed to be a Chinese spy balloon on February 4. Antony Blinken, a prominent American diplomat, canceled a trip to Beijing that was intended to defuse tensions as a result of the incident.

Three other objects have since been shot down by the American military over North America, most recently on Sunday when an octagonal object was shot down over Lake Huron, according to the Pentagon.

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