Mitt Romney backs Biden on China spy balloon

While President Joe Biden has been taking hits from some Republicans and Democrats over his handling of a Chinese spy balloon that entered American airspace last week, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) said that he believed the president had taken the right course.

In an interview with CNN's Manu Raju, Romney said that Biden had made the right call to wait to shoot down the balloon until it was over the ocean.

"I believe that the administration, the president, our military and intelligence agencies, acted skillfully and with care," Romney said. "Was everything done 100 percent correctly? I can't imagine that would be the case of almost anything we do. But I came away more confident."

When asked if that meant Romney thought waiting to shoot down the balloon was the right decision, he replied, "Yes."

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The balloon's presence over American skies caused some Republicans to accuse the Biden administration of being "weak" on China even though the administration eventually did shoot down the balloon and vehemently condemned China's government for its actions.

Several Democrats also criticized Biden over the delay.

“I love the president, I support him, but this move not to blow down that balloon sends a powerful message to both our enemies and our friends. It’s all about data, it’s all about intelligence, it’s all about knowledge, and they got us on this one,” Rep. David Scott (D-GA) said this week.

The balloon's days-long flyover from Alaska to South Carolina captivated the attention of regular Americans and officials alike, before the US military shot it down off the east coast Saturday.

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The House of Representatives passed a resolution "condemning the Chinese Communist Party’s use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon over United States territory as a brazen violation of United States sovereignty."

According to Biden, military officials warned that falling debris could have posed a risk to the American population on the ground if the balloon -- whose remnants ultimately ended up in the Atlantic Ocean -- had been shot down earlier, while it was over land.

For congressman Michael McCaul, the resolution's sponsor, the balloon affair offered a silver lining: "The good news is it galvanized the American people's opposition to Chairman Xi (Jinping)'s communist regime," he said.

With additional reporting by AFP