Beijing, China - Beijing on Monday summoned a top US diplomat after the Pentagon shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon.

Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng had stressed at the Sunday meeting that it was "entirely an accident" the balloon had entered US airspace and that it was a civilian craft, China's Foreign Ministry said.

"The facts are clear and cannot be distorted," he said, according to the ministry statement.

However, he said the US "turned a deaf ear" and insisted on using force "against a civilian airship that was about to leave the United States airspace."

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The shooting down of the balloon violated "the spirit of international law and international practice," the deputy minister was quoted as saying.

The US had "seriously impacted and damaged" efforts and progress on both sides to stabilize relations since China's leader Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden met in November, Xie Feng said, according to the statement.

The US shot down the balloon, which had been flying over the country for days, with a missile off the Atlantic coast of South Carolina on Sunday.

China was accused of using the balloon to spy on important military installations. Beijing has claimed that it was a civilian aircraft that had veered off course and was hard to maneuver, while also accusing the US of overreacting.