JAKARTA - China's spy balloon that flew across the United States last week presents security challenges for the NATO 30-member alliance as well as other countries around the world, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.
"Candidates above the United States emphasize China's pattern of behavior, where we see that China has invested heavily in new capabilities, including various types of surveillance and intelligence platforms," Stoltenberg said during a press conference in Washington, DC with US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken, quoted by CNBC on February 9.
"We need to be aware of China's constant intelligence risks and increase what we do, to protect ourselves and react in a wise and responsible manner," he said, adding that European countries had seen China's increased intelligence activity.
US officials have long complained that Chinese companies are bound to the People's Republic of China and are gathering sensitive information on behalf of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The Chinese Communist Party previously said it was not involved in espionage.
Stoltenberg said China was building its military and nuclear capabilities "without any transparency."
"They seek to assert control over the South China Sea and threaten Taiwan, trying to take control of critical infrastructure, including in NATO countries, suppress its own citizens and trampled on human rights and deepen its strategic partnership with Moscow," Stoltenberg said.
"So NATO allies have real concerns that we discussed today," he said.
Stoltenberg's remarks came as the US Navy and US Coast Guard completed an operation to evacuate a spy balloon that fell about six miles off the coast of South Carolina.
On Saturday, US President Joe Biden gave orders to drop a 200-foot-high spy balloon from the sky. The operation involved an F-22 fighter jet to create a hole at the bottom of the balloon with a sidewinder missile.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Blinken said the US intelligence community was studying the balloon, and the US would continue to update allies and countries around the world that may be victims of Chinese espionage.
"The United States is not the only target of this broader program, which has violated the country's sovereignty on five continents," Blinken said.
"In our involvement, we again heard from our partners that the world expects China and the United States to manage our relationship responsibly. That's exactly what we want to do. We continue to urge China to do the same," he added.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
