The U.S. on Monday swiftly refuted China’s claim that the U.S. has flown more than 10 high-altitude spying balloons over China without permission in the past year. China tried to point the blame back to the U.S. on Monday after more than a week of recriminations over the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina. But U.S. officials not only denied that claim; they revealed the military had also discovered Chinese spy balloons flying over the Middle East and Afghanistan in recent years. “High-altitude stratospheric balloons have transited the region. They have not hung out over American bases or been any threat to our forces whatsoever,” the commander of US Air Forces Central Command Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich said on Monday. “The ones that I’m referring to were Chinese.”