China says it declined phone call with U.S. over balloon incident

BEIJING (Reuters) – China declined a proposed phone call with the United States because the U.S. side hadn’t created “an appropriate atmosphere” for the call, a Chinese defence ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.

The U.S. side’s insistence on shooting down China’s civilian unmanned airship was a serious violation of international practice and has set a bad precedent, spokesperson Tan Kefei said.

(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)