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Uyghurs Applaud Shooting Down Chinese Spy Balloon: ‘Must Never Be Allowed to Go Unpunished’

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Protesters representing the Turkic people of occupied East Turkistan convened in front of the White House on Sunday against China’s genocide, taking a moment to commend the Pentagon for shooting down a rogue Chinese “surveillance” balloon the day before.
The Chinese vessel, which Beijing confirmed originated in China but claimed had accidentally drifted far afield of its original course and into both Canada and America, flew for days across the western seaboard before confused onlookers in Montana began filming it in the skies, prompting the U.S. Department of Defense to confirm that a Chinese surveillance balloon had breached U.S. airspace. Pentagon officials claimed that they could not shoot down the balloon – which was flying at an estimated height of 60,000 feet, far above commercial aircraft – out of concerns that the resulting debris could injure people on the ground. Public pressure mounted over the weekend, however, from both concerned citizens and member of Congress that the balloon was equipped with advanced surveillance technology that China could use to gather intelligence of sensitive American military sites.
After initially informing Americans that they should brace for the balloon to hover overhead for “a few days” on Friday, the Pentagon confirmed on Saturday that an American F-22 fighter aircraft had shot down the balloon over the waters off of South Carolina.
The Chinese Communist Party responded with outrage to the balloon shoot-down, calling it an “obvious overreaction.”
Sunday’s protest was organized by the East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE), which represents the majority-Uyghur region that China refers to as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The event was primarily meant to mark the 26th anniversary of the Ghulja massacre, a Chinese Communist Party crackdown of peaceful protests against the regime that resulted in at least 300 deaths and over 1,600 arrests in 1997.
Aziz Sulayman, the foreign minister of the ETGE, expressed support for America’s decision to shoot down the balloon.
“We would like to commend the United States for shooting down the Chinese spy balloon and demonstrating that it will not violate China’s violation of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and international law,” Suleyman said.

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