Republicans blast Biden's handling of Chinese ‘spy’ balloon

Republicans have slammed US President Joe Biden over his handling of the alleged Chinese “spy” balloon, after a US fighter aircraft shot down it off the coast of South Carolina, further straining taut relations with Beijing.

However, Democrats on Sunday defended Biden’s decision to shoot it down.

Republicans contended Biden's dealing with the matter will damage US-Chinese ties.

"As usual when it comes to national defense and foreign policy, the Biden administration reacted at first too indecisively and then too late," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Twitter.

"We should not have let the People's Republic of China make a mockery of our airspace," he added.

Vice-chair of the Senate intelligence committee Marco Rubio said that Biden's delay in alerting the public to the balloon's presence amounted to "dereliction of duty."

Biden on Saturday congratulated US fighter pilots for taking down the balloon in the country’s airspace and above its territorial waters.

"They successfully took it down. And I want to compliment our aviators who did it," Biden told reporters in Maryland.

The strike took place on Saturday afternoon after three southeastern airports in the US were temporarily shut down over what the Federal Aviation Administration called a "national security effort."

The US military said it was working to recover debris and intelligence information from the Chinese “spy” balloon.

China has rejected US accusations and blasted the Pentagon's strike.

Rubio called the balloon overflight a brazen effort by China to embarrass Biden just before his State of the Union address Tuesday.

Democrats however defended Biden and called the Republican criticisms "premature and political."

MG