The balloon shot down by the US military belongs to China, not the United States, a foreign ministry spokeswoman in Beijing said on Tuesday, insisting it did not pose a threat to US national security, Reuters and dpa reported.

“I can say that this balloon belongs to China, not the United States,” spokeswoman Mao Ning said at another press conference.

She was responding to questions about whether Beijing had asked the United States to return the remains of a suspected downed surveillance balloon after it flew over sensitive military sites and nuclear missile mines.

She said the balloon “did not pose a threat to any person or to the national security of the United States.”

The US should handle such incidents “calmly and professionally” without using force, but decided otherwise, which was a “clear overreaction”, a Chinese spokeswoman said.

The government in Beijing will protect China’s legitimate interests and rights, Mao Ning stressed, without giving details.

The United States is currently recovering the remains of the balloon in the Atlantic Ocean off South Carolina to get more information about the mission from the equipment on board.

White House National Security Council communications director John Kirby, in response to questions in Washington, said he was not aware of any intentions or plans to return the balloon.

A foreign ministry spokeswoman in Beijing repeated China’s argument that it was a civilian balloon that deviated from its trajectory due to “force majeure” and accidentally entered US airspace.

She declined to comment on another balloon sighting over Costa Rica, which the country’s Foreign Ministry reported on Monday.

Earlier, the ministry cited the Chinese embassy in San Jose, which expressed regret over the incident and said the device’s purpose was purely scientific, mainly meteorological.

The embassy also said the balloon did not pose a threat to any country and that it arrived over Costa Rica by mistake due to weather conditions and reduced homing capabilities, the ministry said in a statement. It is not known if the balloon was the same as the one seen over Columbia on Friday.