China Calls Balloon Incident a ‘Test’ for U.S. to Improve Relations

The U.S. response to the drifting of a Chinese balloon into its airspace is a display of how well it can manage the world’s most important bilateral relationship that has grown increasingly tense in recent years, China’s foreign ministry said on Monday.

The incident, which transfixed the world last week as the balloon floated over the U.S. for several days before being shot down off the country’s East Coast, is “a test for the U.S. side’s sincerity about stabilizing and improving its relations with China and its approach to crisis management,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a daily briefing Monday. She added that the two sides should work together to “avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation, and damaging mutual trust.”