US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken postponed a planned visit to Beijing on Friday after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was detected in US airspace, despite Chinese authorities expressing “regret” over the intrusion, they call it “involuntary”.
“There is a Chinese surveillance balloon currently flying over the United States at high altitude, this is a clear and unacceptable violation of American sovereignty,” a senior Secretary of State official said on condition of anonymity.
Antony Blinken’s visit to Beijing, scheduled for Sunday and Monday, is therefore “postponed” and will be rescheduled when “the conditions are met”, he added, while saying he was “confident” in the capacity of the United States. United to maintain dialogue with Beijing.
The Pentagon had announced the day before having detected a large aerostat over the United States, and had assured that it had no doubts about its Chinese origin and its use for espionage purposes.
Beijing, which had initially called not to “raise the pin” on this affair, admitted on Friday that it was indeed a device from China.
But “it is a civilian aircraft, used for research purposes, mainly meteorological”, assured a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release.
Affected by the winds, this balloon “deviated from its trajectory”, he added, expressing his country’s “regrets” for this “involuntary” violation of American airspace.
nuclear missiles
“The balloon is currently flying at an altitude well above commercial air traffic. It poses no military or physical threat to people on the ground,” Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said.
According to US media, the balloon flew over the Aleutian Islands in the northern Pacific Ocean, then passed through Canadian airspace, before entering the United States about two days ago.
He notably flew over the state of Montana, which is home to nuclear missile silos, where fighter jets approached him, a senior Pentagon official said on condition of anonymity.
It was decided not to shoot it down, due to the risks posed by possible debris for people on the ground, he added, while judging its ability to collect information “limited”.
“Down That Ball”
The Canadian government added on Friday that it was investigating a “potential second incident”.
“Canada is taking steps to ensure the security of its airspace, including monitoring for a potential second incident,” Canada’s Defense Ministry said in a statement, without elaborating.
This is not the first time that the US military has seen such an intrusion, but this aircraft has remained longer than others in US airspace.
The incident sparked strong reactions in the American political class. “This violation of American sovereignty, days before Secretary of State Blinken’s visit to China, shows that recent signs of openness” on the part of the Chinese authorities “do not reflect a real change in policy”, have in particular commented on the Republican and Democratic leaders of a parliamentary committee on China, Mike Gallagher and Raja Krishnamoorthi.
“Down that balloon!” ex-Republican President Donald Trump urged on Truth Social.
Antony Blinken’s visit to China would have been the first by an American secretary of state since October 2018, when the two superpowers seek to prevent the intense tensions between them from degenerating into open conflict.
Among the many contentious issues are Taiwan, which China claims as an integral part of its territory, and Beijing’s activities in the South China Sea.