Republicans slammed President Joe Biden on Sunday over his handling of the Chinese balloon that was shot down after floating across the US for days.

Marco Rubio, vice chair of the Senate intelligence committee, criticized Biden for waiting so long to alert the public as the Chinese balloon made its "unprecedented" flight over America, saying this amounted to "dereliction of duty."

Rubio claimed the overflight was a brazen effort by Beijing timed to embarrass Biden just before his State of the Union message on Tuesday and to disrupt a visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China.

Appearing on CNN, the US official said Beijing's message was, "We have the ability to do this, and America can't do anything about it."

On his part, Representative Mike Turner, who chairs the House intelligence committee, used a football comparison in blasting Biden for waiting to down the balloon.

"Clearly the President taking it down over the Atlantic is ... sort of like tackling the quarterback after the game is over. The satellite had completed its mission. It should never have been allowed to enter the United States," Turner said.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday expressed China's "strong dissatisfaction and protests against the use of force by the United States to attack the unmanned civilian airship."

The Ministry stressed that China reserved "the right to make further necessary responses."

Beijing has made clear that the balloon was primarily gathering weather data and that it had been blown off course.

Asked about possible further consequences for China, US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN, "You can expect any further developments will be appropriate in response to what happened."

Buttigieg said the downing of the balloon operation was carried out "in a very effective, excellent way," without damage or injury on the ground.

⚡️What appears to be a proximity triggered missile was fired from an F-22 raptor in order to shoot down the Chinese Balloon. pic.twitter.com/7blNYjPkIK

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) February 4, 2023

In this regard, Admiral Mike Mullen, the former chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, indicated on Sunday that he expected the balloon's debris would be retrieved "relatively shortly" from waters off South Carolina.

The Chinese balloon was shot down on Saturday by a missile fired from a US fighter jet.

Asked if he thought elements in the Chinese military might have launched the balloon intentionally to disrupt the Blinken visit -- the secretary's first to China since Biden took office -- Mullen said, "Clearly, I think that's the case." 

Mullen said the craft was maneuverable, rejecting China's suggestion that it might have blown off course.

"It has propellers on it," he said. "This was not an accident. This was deliberate. It was intelligence."

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