Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer said Sunday that the Chinese government has been “humiliated” for having been “caught lying” about suspected spy balloons in U.S. airspace.
The U.S. shot down one confirmed spy balloon and two other suspected Chinese spy devices within the past week.
“I think the Chinese were humiliated,” Mr. Schumer said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I think the Chinese were caught lying. I think it’s a real step back for them.”
The New York Democrat revealed that the two most recent flying objects shot down — one over Alaska and the other over Canada — were also balloons.
China called it “purely political manipulation and hyping up” when the House passed a resolution last week condemning the foreign adversary for a “brazen violation” of U.S. sovereignty and a campaign to “deceive the international community through false claims about its intelligence collection campaigns.”
“I think they are probably going to have to get rid of it or do something,” Mr. Schumer said of China’s spy balloon program. “Because they look really bad.”