US Secretary of State Antony Blinken won’t travel to Beijing as scheduled, the State Department said.
Citing the need to respond to the presence of a high-altitude Chinese balloon in US airspace, Washington postponed Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s planned trip to Beijing on Friday. While the Pentagon has expressed suspicion the aerostat might be used for surveillance, China said it was a weather balloon blown off course by the wind.
Blinken and President Joe Biden decided it was “best not to proceed with the trip at this time,” AP reported quoting a State Department official. The determination was made “just hours” before Blinken was due to board the plane.
The visit had been arranged by Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Indonesia last November, and was due to be Blinken’s first trip to Beijing since 2020.
The flying object was first spotted on Wednesday over the northwestern US. On Thursday, the Pentagon described it as “a high-altitude surveillance balloon.” Its last publicly known location was listed as above Billings, Montana. The US military decided not to shoot down the airship due to safety concerns, the Pentagon said.
Senator Steve Daines, a Montana Republican, reacted to the discovery by expressing alarm that the balloon was able to “infiltrate” US airspace and voicing concerns that it might be spying on nuclear missile facilities located in his state.
On Friday, Beijing said the balloon was indeed Chinese, but described it as “a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes.”
“Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It added that Beijing “regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace due to force majeure” and is working with Washington to “properly handle this unexpected situation.”, RT reports.
Antony Blinken Cancels Beijing Trip After Trump Calls for Biden to Shoot Down Balloon – Kristinn Taylor reports:
Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a scheduled trip to Beijing this weekend in response to China sending a large surveillance balloon over the Northwest United States this week. Blinken’s cancellation comes after President Trump called on the Biden administration to shoot down the balloon. Joe Biden has instead decided to let the balloon continue spying on the U.S. As TGP reported Thursday night, the balloon flight is a great affront by China President Xi Jinping to Biden and Blinken.
The AP reported Blinken’s cancellation (excerpt):
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed a planned high-stakes weekend diplomatic trip to China as the Biden administration weighs a broader response to the discovery of a high-altitude Chinese balloon flying over sensitive sites in the western United States, a U.S. official said Friday.
The abrupt decision came despite China’s claim that the balloon was a weather research satellite that had blown off course. The U.S. has described it as a surveillance satellite.
The decision came just hours before Blinken had been due to depart Washington for Beijing and marked a new blow to already strained U.S.-Chinese relations. The official said Blinken and President Joe Biden determined it was best not to proceed with the trip at this time.
Early Friday morning, President Trump posted a blunt statement about the balloon on Truth Social, “SHOOT DOWN THE BALLOON!”
NORAD and U.S. Northern Command issued a joint statement late Thursday night staing the balloon was not a military threat.
NORAD and U.S. Northern Command statement on the high-altitude surveillance balloon. pic.twitter.com/dfdCOHf8Vf
NORAD and U.S. Northern Command statement on the high-altitude surveillance balloon. pic.twitter.com/dfdCOHf8Vf
— North American Aerospace Defense Command (@NORADCommand) February 3, 2023
UPDATE: China issued a statement saying it “regrets” the balloon went off course.
Statement from the Chinese foreign ministry admitting the ‘spy balloon’ is from China, but they say it is a civilian airship that “affected by the westerlies and with limited self-steering capability” deviated from its planned course
Statement from the Chinese foreign ministry admitting the ‘spy balloon’ is from China, but they say it is a civilian airship that “affected by the westerlies and with limited self-steering capability” deviated from its planned course pic.twitter.com/Hm9Fhqdif5
— Debi Edward (@debiedwarditv) February 3, 2023
CNN’s Jennifer Hansler posted a “senior State Department official” on China’s statement, “A senior State Department official says the “clear assessment was that under these current conditions, it wouldn’t be constructive to visit Beijing at this time,” adding the presence of the Chinse spy balloon “is a clear violation of our sovereignty as well as international law.”…”The official said the US acknowledges China’s “statement of regret but the presence of this balloon in our airspace is a clear violation of our sovereignty as well as international law and it is unacceptable that this has occurred.”
The official said the the presence of this balloon in our airspace is a clear violation of our sovereignty as well as international law and it is unacceptable that this has occurred.”
The official said the US acknowledges China’s “statement of regret but the presence of this balloon in our airspace is a clear violation of our sovereignty as well as international law and it is unacceptable that this has occurred.”
— Jennifer Hansler (@jmhansler) February 3, 2023