The United States Secretary of State, Anthony Blinkensuspended this Friday the trip he had planned 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 presence of the spy balloon is about “a clear violation” of sovereignty and international lawl, so it is “unacceptable” and they have decided to postpone Blinken’s visit.
Hours earlier, China admitted that the hot air balloon that flew over the United States at a high altitude belongs to it, after asking during the afternoon not “speculate” after the accusations launched from the Pentagon.
“The airship is from China. It is a civil airship used for research purposes, mainly meteorological,” the Asian giant’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs clarified in a statement.
According to the statement, the aircraft “deviated greatly from its intended course.” because of “westerly winds and a limited capacity for self-direction.
The Foreign Ministry in its publication “regrets the unintentional entry” of the airship into US airspace and affirms that it “will continue to communicate” with the US, in addition to ensuring that it will deal with “this unexpected situation caused by force majeure.”
Earlier this Friday, Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning declared at a press conference that Beijing was “verifying the information that a spy balloon has been flying over the United States”, although she emphasized at the time that “China has no intention of violating the territory or the airspace of any sovereign state.”
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said in a statement that the US is “closely” following the movements of the globe.