BEIJING. His denial of telephone contact with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was confirmed yesterday by the government in Beijingdue to an “irresponsible decision” to shoot down a Chinese US Air Force balloon off the coast of South Carolina last week.

“The irresponsible and deeply flawed approach USA this did not create the proper atmosphere of dialogue and reconciliation between our two armies. The US insisted on using military means to attack the balloon, in flagrant violation of international practice and setting a bad precedent. China reserves the right to use appropriate means to manage such situations,” the Chinese Defense Ministry said in a statement. At the same time, Washington expressed confidence in the espionage nature of the flying object, explaining that it carries the means to collect communication signals and is under the control of the Chinese military.

Beijing admits that the balloon was made in China, but insists it is a conventional weather balloon with no intelligence gathering capability. The incident forced US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to postpone his planned visit to Beijing.

At the same time, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted to condemn Chinese spy balloon flights over U.S. airspace, calling the flights “a flagrant violation of U.S. national sovereignty.” The ruling also calls on the administration of President Joe Biden to continue briefing Congress on the incident.

According to Washington, he carried tools for collecting communications signals and was under the direction of the Chinese military.

In the new Chinese defense doctrine, great importance is attached to the upper atmosphere, at an altitude of 15 to 100 km above the Earth’s surface. China, in addition to developing stratospheric drones and solar-powered hypersonic weapons systems, is resurrecting 1970s technology to build stratospheric airships and high-altitude balloons like the one seen over the US.

By the late 1970s, Chinese engineers had made significant progress in the study and design of balloons, and these programs gave new impetus to Beijing’s modern defense research. Back in 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the People’s Liberation Army to accelerate the development of the Chinese space program’s offensive and defensive capabilities. According to experts, the stratosphere will play a decisive role in future military operations.

China’s CNKI database, which publishes scientific research, contains over 1,000 publications and reports on the stratosphere. Many of them are focused on defense applications of high-altitude balloons. Unlike observations from satellites or spy planes, hot air balloons and stratospheric airships are able to hover in the same place for long periods of time and are difficult to detect with conventional radar.