Secretary of State Antony Blinken will postpone his trip to Beijing following the discovery of an alleged Chinese spy balloon over U.S. territory.
“The secretary was prepared to depart for Beijing tonight to take on a wide-ranging agenda that would have encompassed all elements of the relationship,” a senior State Department official told reporters in a telephone briefing Friday. “We have noted the PRC’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. After consultations with our interagency partners as well as with Congress, we have concluded that the conditions are not right at this moment for Secretary Blinken to travel to China.”
SUSPECTED CHINESE SPY BALLOON DISCOVERED FLOATING OVER NORTHERN US
The official stressed the importance of diplomacy throughout this ongoing incident.
“We believe in diplomacy to responsibly manage the most complex bilateral relationship we have,” the official said. “We are committed to maintaining open lines with the PRC at all times, including during this incident.”
Blinken will travel to China at another time.
“The secretary conveyed to the director of the Central Foreign Affairs Office, Wang Yi, earlier this morning that the trip would need to be postponed,” the senior State Department official said. “But the secretary indicated that he would plan to travel to the PRC at the earliest opportunity when conditions allow.”
“In the meantime, we will maintain open lines of communication with the PRC to address our concerns about this ongoing incident and to responsibly manage the competition between our countries,” the official concluded.
The discovery of the balloon prompted questions from members of Congress.
“We briefed Gang of Eight staff on Thursday afternoon to get this information to Congress expeditiously and offered additional briefings,” a U.S. official told the Washington Examiner.
The Pentagon decided not to shoot down the balloon when it was over sparsely populated areas in Montana, an official told reporters Thursday.
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“We assessed that the risk of downing it, even if the probability was low, in a sparsely populated area of debris falling and hurting somebody or damaging property, that it wasn’t worth it,” the defense official said. “And that was the recommendation of our military commanders.”
A U.S. official with knowledge of the situation told ABC News that the move is not intended as a slight but rather to ensure that talk over the balloon doesn’t dominate talks between him and his Chinese counterpart. The meeting was originally supposed to take place next week.
Mike Brest contributed to this report.
