Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., appeared on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo," saying the U.S. is in a "world of hurt" after the Chinese spy balloon entered the airspace.
In a statement, China's foreign ministry said, "China will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the company concerned and reserves the right to make further responses if necessary."
Paul said the Chinese Communist Party's response was "appalling."
"The fact that they already have their back up and they're resisting and talking about retaliation does not sound like much of an apology," said Paul.
He said the Biden administration should have the Chinese ambassador speak with the secretary of state and conduct a "full examination" of why this balloon was permitted into U.S. airspace.
"We need a commander in chief that is able to respond and a national defense that is able to respond within seconds to minutes to penetration of our airspace.
"So this sort of long, drawn-out, that we let this drift over the ocean to Alaska, across Alaska, across Canada, and then when they finally decided to do something, it still took them four more days. This really is probing our defenses in a way. Even if there was no surveillance on board, they've gotten a great deal of information as to how sluggish the Biden administration is in their response."
Paul said the inaction to shoot it down "looks very weak in the eyes of our enemy" and that it was a "huge mistake." He said now the U.S. needs to demand a full apology and an explanation.
Paul said the U.S. is entitled to the data from the surveillance drone.
"If they are not going to show us that, then we tend not to trust that they are telling us the truth," said Paul.
"More damaging than any surveillance is assessing our response time," said Paul. "Like I say, since we have entered into the nuclear age, there are responses that have to occur within seconds to minutes; and the fact that this administration would dither for days over a balloon gives pause to us to about how well we're protected and whether or not they have the ability to make decisions that would have to be made in seconds or minutes."
He said whether it is the lack of action or knowledge, this telegraphs a message to the rest of the world regarding the U.S.'s defense and intelligence.
"If we cannot detect a balloon, we are in a world of hurt as far as protecting this country," said Paul.
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