The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, described this Friday as “irresponsible” the presence of a Chinese spy balloon in the United States, which has led him to suspend his official trip to China this weekend.
“It is a clear violation of US sovereignty and international law. It is an irresponsible act, ”he said in an appearance before the press together with his South Korean counterpart, Park Jin.
The Pentagon revealed this Thursday that it was following the movements of a “Chinese spy balloon” that was flying over US territory. The device has passed through Montana, in the northwest, from there it has moved east and is now in the center of the country.
For Blinken, the decision of the Chinese Communist Party to carry out this action is “harmful” for the talks that were to take place on his trip to the Asian country, the first by a US foreign minister. since 2018.
Blinken stressed that as soon as they detected the balloon, they took appropriate measures to prevent the collection of sensitive information and, in addition to talking to the Chinese authorities about it, they also informed their partners and other agencies.
“Any country that sees its airspace violated in this way I think they would respond in a similar way and I can only imagine what the reaction in China would have been if they were on the other side,” added the US foreign minister.
In his opinion, what happened justifies the postponement of the visit until the conditions are met for that trip to take place, but the dialogue between the two countries remains open.
“The United States will continue to have open lines of communication with China, in part to address this incident,” said Blinken, for whom this dialogue is important to avoid conflict.
The world, in his view, “expects the United States and China to manage their relationship responsibly. The United States will continue to act in a manner that reflects that responsibility and expects its Chinese counterparts to do the same.”
The Pentagon leadership has strongly recommended to President Joe Biden not to take any “kinetic action” against the balloon for the safety of people on the surface from possible falling debris.
“The first step is to get this surveillance tool out of our territory,” added Blinken, stressing that the use of this balloon is not only “irresponsible” and “unacceptable” in itself, but especially on the eve of an official visit. .
The Secretary of State did not advance when the suspended trip could take place: “Right now we are focused on making sure that this issue is resolved.”
His South Korean counterpart pointed out that Blinken offered him “very detailed explanations” about what happened and indicated that he understands the decision to provisionally postpone that displacement.
“I think China should offer very candid explanations. But at the same time, the relationship between China and the United States is very important in the international framework. At some point in the future, I hope that Blinken will have the opportunity to go to China,” the South Korean foreign minister stressed.
Beijing admitted this Friday that the balloon belongs to it, although it assured that “it is a civil airship used for research purposes, mainly meteorological”, and regretted “the unintentional entry” of the device into US airspace.
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