China says House resolution condemning Beijing over balloon is "purely political manipulation and hyping up"

After the House unanimously passed a resolution condemning China over its surveillance balloon, Beijing responded Friday by dismissing it as "purely political manipulation and hyping up."

"China is strongly dissatisfied with this and firmly opposes it," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing for reporters.

"The resolution by the U.S. Congress was purely political manipulation and hyping up," Mao said.

The resolution, which passed unanimously on Thursday, condemned China for a "brazen violation" of U.S. sovereignty and efforts to "deceive the international community through false claims about its intelligence collection campaigns."

Republicans have criticized the Biden administration for not acting sooner to shoot down the balloon, but both parties' lawmakers came together on the vote, 419-0.

China insists the object was a civilian weather balloon that had been blown off course, but has not said whom it belonged to or offered other details.

Meanwhile, China's Defense Ministry said it refused a call from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin following the downing of the balloon because the U.S. had "not created the proper atmosphere" for dialogue and exchange.