China has made it clear that the unmanned civilian airship that flew over US territory was an unexpected and isolated event, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
"China rejects distortion and hyping up of this incident," spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press briefing when answering a question on the Pentagon saying that it could not confirm China collected real-time data from the balloon earlier this year.
They also said that the US has been strengthening its military deployment in the Philippines and it would only lead to more tension and less peace and stability in the region.
It is driven by a zero-sum mentality, spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular press briefing when asked about the Philippines allowing more US military bases.