On February 18, 2023 local time, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi attended and delivered a keynote speech at the 59th Munich Security Conference in Germany. He then met the press and answered questions on China-US relations.

Wang Yi noted, the so-called “balloon incident” have recently attracted wide attention. It is exactly a political farce made by the United States. China has made it absolutely clear to the US side that it is an unmanned airship for civilian use and was just affected by the Westerlies and deviated far from its planned course due to its limited self-steering capability and entered the US airspace. We have asked the US side to properly manage it with the Chinese side in a rational, calm and professional manner. Regrettably,the US blatantly shot down the airship that posed no threat at all by firing a missile from a fighter jet. This mind-boggling and almost hysterical action is 100% an abuse of force and clear violation of international norms and conventions. Definitely China cannot accept this and has launched strong protest against the United States. Each day, balloons from various countries fly across the sky in large numbers. Does the US mean to shoot them all down? What the US has done is not a sign of strength, but exactly the opposite.We do urge the United States to stop such preposterous acts out of its domestic political needs. The United States is required to correct its mistakes with sincerity, acknowledge and resolve the damage its abuse of force has done to China-US relations.

This is essentially caused by the US’s misperception and strategic miscalculation about China since such a purely unexpected accident could cause a storm in China-US relations. China's policy toward the United States has always been clear and transparent. That is mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation. On the basis of these principles, the two sides can explore the right way for the two major countries with different social systems, histories and cultures to get along with each other. But the United States' policy toward China is the opposite. It regards China as the most severe geopolitical challenge and strategic competitor. With this misguided perception toward China, the United States goes on its all-out campaign to block and keep China down.

With regards to the United States' claim that it wants to compete with China, Wang Yi said China has never been afraid of competition, but it  should be fair and rules-based. The US CHIPS and Science Act vows to deploy state power to suppress Chinese companies. This is 100% self-serving unilateralism, a complete violation of the WTO rules and serious disruption of the stability of global industrial & supply chains. Once a champion of free trade, the US is now standing on the opposite side of free trade – what a historic irony this is. To quote an ancient Chinese saying, “a virtuous man makes his fortune by honorable means”, whereas a petty person would do that through calculative or predatory means. Today’s US has abandoned all pretenses. It just skips being calculative and relies solely on predatory means. It has damaged the legitimate rights and interests of all other countries, and also damage the credibility and interests of the United States itself.

Wang Yi said that China urges the United States to view China's development in an objective and fair manner, to pursue a positive and pragmatic China policy, and work together with China to bring China-US relations back on the track of sound and steady development. This  serves the interests of the two countries and peoples, and also meets the common expectation of the international community.