WASHINGTON – The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, suspended this Friday his planned trip to Beijing this weekend, after his country detected a “Chinese spy balloon” flying over US territory.
High-ranking State Department officials said in a call with reporters that the balloon’s presence is “a clear violation” of sovereignty and international law, making it “unacceptable” and they have decided to postpone Blinken’s visit. .
“The secretary communicated this morning to the director of the Foreign Affairs Office (of China), Wang Yi, that the trip had to be postponed,” said the officials, who detailed that the suspension of the trip has been decided after consulting with different agencies. the US Government and Congress.
However, Blinken told Wang that he hopes to travel to China “as soon as possible when conditions allow.”
In the meantime, the US will keep the “lines of communication open” with Beijing to discuss its concerns about “this incident” and to handle the competition between the two countries “responsibly,” the officials said.
Blinken was scheduled to leave tonight for Beijing on the first visit by a secretary of state to China since 2018.
However, on Thursday the Pentagon reported that it had detected a Chinese spy balloon flying at a high altitude over US territory and that it had decided not to destroy it, although it was following it closely, given the danger that the fall of their remains on the surface.
China 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.
The officials of the US Department affirmed that their country recognizes and takes note of the “repentance statement from China”, despite the fact that the presence of the balloon in its airspace is “unacceptable” and a “clear violation” of its sovereignty. .
“Our clear assessment is that under these circumstances it would not be constructive to visit Beijing now, but we reiterate that it is a postponement,” they remarked.
Despite this crisis, US officials stressed that their government believes in diplomacy to “responsibly manage the most complex bilateral relationship” that the US has.
“We are committed to keeping the lines with China open at all times, including during this incident,” they said.