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WASHINGTON/BEIJING, Feb 3 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed his visit to China, which was due to begin on Friday, after a Chinese spy balloon was detected in U.S. airspace. said a US official.
The United States considered that in the current context, the conditions were not met for a visit by the head of American diplomacy to China, explained a senior American official.
The presence of a balloon in US airspace is a “clear violation” of US sovereignty and an “unacceptable” situation, he said.
Earlier in the day, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had expressed regret that an “airship” from China had entered American airspace, saying that the machine was intended in particular for civil meteorological purposes.
“China will continue to maintain communication with the US side to properly handle this accident,” the Chinese ministry added as the detection of the spy balloon caused serious concern in Washington.
The United States is committed to keeping diplomatic channels open at all times, including during the incident, the senior US official said.
Antony Blinken was due to travel to Beijing for talks with Chinese leaders, a visit agreed to by Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping at their summit last November, and the first by a US Secretary of State to China since Mike Pompeo in October 2018.
The two leading economic powers in the world maintain an acute rivalry in many areas but are also seeking to emerge from a phase of strong bilateral tensions which culminated last summer with the visit to Taiwan of Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the House of Representatives. . (Reporting Steve Holland, Idress Ali, Humeyra Pamuk, Phil Stewart, Michael Martina and David Brunnstrom in Washington; with contributions from Tony Munroe, Ryan Woo and Yew Lun Tian in Beijing, Akriti Sharma in Bangalore, Greg Torode in Hong Kong, and Lion Schellerer in Singapore, Blandine Hénault for the French version)
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