Munich, Germany - China's top diplomat Wang Yi sharply criticized the recent shooting down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon by US forces after it flew across North America.

"This is, I would say, absurd and hysterical," China's Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

"This is 100% abuse of the use of force. It's a violation of international rules."

Nearly two weeks ago, the US military fired a missile at the balloon over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the state of South Carolina.

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Washington accused China of trying to spy on sensitive military installations. Beijing, on the other hand, says it was a civilian research balloon that went off course and has sharply criticized the US.

The incident caused heightened tensions in the already strained relationship between Beijing and Washington.

Wang said Washington violated the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation by shooting down the aircraft.

It is not clear if Wang, who is the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party's commission on foreign policy, will meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at this weekend's high-level security conference in Germany, where Vice President Kamala Harris also took the stage to accuse Russia of crimes against humanity in Ukraine.

On Friday, the US Northern Command said it had located and retrieved the balloon debris off the coast of South Carolina.

"Final pieces of debris are being transferred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory in Virginia for counterintelligence exploitation, as has occurred with the previous surface and subsurface debris recovered," the statement said.

President Joe Biden said he made no apologies for shooting down the balloon, slamming the incursion into US airspace.