Beijing, Feb 18 (AFP)- China's top diplomat Wang Yi said on Saturday (Feb 18) that the US handling of the balloon incident had been "unimaginable" as well as a "hysterical and absurd" act that violated international norms.

Addressing a gathering of world leaders at the Munich Security Conference, Wang said US President Joe Biden's administration has a "misguided" perception of Beijing.

He also accused Washington of trying to "smear" the Asian giant while it itself was implementing policies that ran counter to its paradigms such as free trade.

"There are many balloons from many countries in the sky. Do you want to down each and every one of them?"  said Wang, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

"We urge the United States not to do such preposterous things simply to divert attention from its own domestic problems." 

The United States has been in a state of alarm since a huge white balloon from China was spotted over a series of top secret nuclear weapons sites, before being shot down just off the east coast on Feb 4.

Beijing denies it uses spy balloons and says the craft was for weather research. Subsequently, it accused Washington of sending its own espionage balloon over its territory-something that the US has denied.

The spate had led US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to abruptly cancel a rare visit to China.

With Blinken also in Munich for the conference, all eyes are on whether both sides succeed in setting up a meeting.

But asked if he was planning a huddle with the US delegation, Wang reacted combatively.
Washington, he said, had the wrong view of China as a serious geopolitical challenge and a threat to the United States.

"This is a misguided perception of China and with this perception, the United States is using all of its means to smear and clamp down China, and is co-opting other countries to do the same," he said.

Wang accused the US instead of "100 per cent protectionism, 100 per cent self-servingness, 100 per cent unilateral action" in its own economic policies like the Chips Act.

"We hope the US side would take a pragmatic and proactive attitude towards China and work together with China to return our bilateral ties to accept a track of sound development," he added.