Angry Democrats Say Chinese Balloon 'Further Inflames Relations'

Democrats on the newly constituted House of Representatives' select committee on China have expressed dismay at the presence of a Chinese spy balloon in the U.S. and suggested it will harm relations. In statements sent to Newsweek on Friday, several Democratic members of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party criticized China for deploying the balloon. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has described the balloon as a "Civilian airship" mostly used to monitor the weather but the Department of Defense has identified it as a surveillance balloon. Representative Ritchie Torres of New York said he was "Alarmed by reports from the Pentagon that defense officials have discovered and are actively tracking a suspected surveillance balloon over the northern United States that's believed to belong to the Chinese Communist Party." Representative Ro Khanna of California told Newsweek that "As a member of the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, I'm deeply concerned with the news of the CCP Spy balloon hovering over Montana." Including former President Donald Trump, have called for the balloon to be shot down, but there are concerns that doing so could be dangerous to civilians due to debris. His office addressed the idea of shooting down the balloon in a statement to Newsweek.