China has demanded that the Biden Administration return its surveillance balloon.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said,

The airship does not belong to the U.S. It belongs to China.

When pressed on the nature of the balloon, Mao repeated China's position that the balloon was a civilian surveillance device.

The unmanned Chinese airship is of civilian nature. Its unintended entry into U.S. airspace is entirely unexpected and caused by force majeure. It didn't pose any threat to any person or to the national security of the U.S. The U.S. should have properly handled such incidents in a calm and professional manner not involving the use of force, yet they decided to do otherwise, which is a clear overreaction.

In other words a civilian surveillance airship that belongs to the Chinese government, now give it back.

Because of course, China is a communist country. There's no such thing as "civilian." All their universities, corporations, and even their people are considered part of the state. Everything is part of the government.

The Pentagon said they blocked the balloon from transmitting sensitive information to China, and maybe that's why they want it back.

On the other hand, the Pentagon also said that three similar Chinese spy balloons flew over the U.S. during the Trump administration, a claim which former Defense Secretary Mark Esper and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denied.

Considering Trump's response to the current balloon, their denial seems more probable than the Pentagon's assertion.

Plus the Biden administration said the evidence for the previous three spy balloons was not discovered until Trump left office, in other words, after Biden got criticized for not dealing with the current aircraft.

We'll see if Biden rolls over and gives the Chinese back their "civilian" balloon, but one thing is certain, we won't know the truth about what happens either way.