US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed a visit to China that had been expected to start on Friday after a Chinese spy balloon was tracked flying across the United States in what US officials call a "clear violation" of US sovereignty.
US authorities labelled the high-altitude balloon, which was spotted over sensitive sites, "unacceptable", saying it violated US airspace and international law and was being used for "surveillance".
China previously claimed the balloon was a weather research "airship" that had been blown off course.
"We are aware of the PRC statement," said Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder in Washington DC on Friday, local time.
"However, the fact is, we know that it's a surveillance balloon. And I'm not going to be able to be more specific than that.
"We do know that the balloon has violated US airspace and international law, which is unacceptable."
Mr Ryder described the balloon as a "manoeuvrable craft", which was moving eastward.
He said it was currently over the centre of the continental US and did not "present a military or physical threat to people on the ground".
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) was closely monitoring the balloon, which was roughly 60,000 feet above ground level, while the Biden administration weighed its options, Mr Ryder said.
At present, the US does not plan to shoot down the balloon out of an "abundance of caution".
"We do recognise that any potential debris field would be significant and potentially cause civilian injuries or deaths, or significant property damage," Mr Ryder said.
Strained US-China relations
Earlier in the day, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken abruptly postponed a high-stakes weekend diplomatic trip to China.
The development came just before Mr Blinken had been due to depart Washington for Beijing and marked a new blow to already strained US-Chinese relations.
Relations between China and the United States soured in recent years, particularly following then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in August, which prompted dramatic Chinese military drills near the self-ruled island.
President Joe Biden declined to comment on the balloon when questioned at an economic event.
Two 2024 election challengers, former president Donald Trump, and Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador, said the US should immediately shoot down the balloon.
Mr Trump posted "SHOOT DOWN THE BALLOON!" on his Truth Social media platform.
Discovery of the balloon was announced by Pentagon officials who said one of the places it was spotted was over the state of Montana, which is home to one of America's three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base.
A senior defence official said the US prepared fighter jets, including F-22s, to shoot down the balloon if ordered, but the Pentagon had ultimately recommended against it.
The US has assessed that it had only "limited" value in terms of providing intelligence China couldn't obtain by other technologies, such as spy satellites, the official said.
Trip cancellation blow to both sides
Postponement of Mr Blinken's trip, which was agreed to in November by Mr Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, is a blow to those on both sides who saw it as an overdue opportunity to stabilise an increasingly fractious relationship.
The last visit by a US secretary of state was in 2017.
Mr Blinken had been prepared as late as Thursday to travel to Beijing this weekend, but the administration had begun to reconsider the trip following the discovery of the balloon on Wednesday, even before its presence was made public.
The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the administration had "noted" China's expression of regret.
He said the seriousness of the violation of US airspace, sovereignty and international law was such that Mr Blinken's trip could not go forward as planned.
The official said that message had been delivered by Mr Blinken to Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi on Friday.
However, the official also said that Mr Blinken had told the Chinese he would be prepared to travel to China "at the earliest opportunity when conditions allow".
Mr Blinken's long-anticipated meetings with senior Chinese officials had been seen in both countries as a way to find some areas of common ground at a time of major disagreements over Taiwan, human rights, China's claims in the South China Sea, North Korea, Russia's war in Ukraine, trade policy and climate change.
Although the trip, which was agreed to in November by President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping at a summit in Indonesia, had not been formally announced, officials in both Beijing and Washington had been talking in recent days about Mr Blinken's imminent arrival.
The meetings were to begin on Sunday and go through Monday.
China calls balloon a 'self-steering' airship
The discovery alarmed many in Washington and across the country and, besides the US protests lodged with Chinese officials, it attracted strong criticism of the administration from Republican members of Congress who have advocated taking a tougher stance with China.
China, which angrily denounces surveillance attempts by the US and others over areas it considers to be its territory, and once forced down an American spy plane, offered a generally muted reaction to the Pentagon announcement.
In a relatively conciliatory statement, the Chinese foreign ministry said late on Friday that the balloon was a civilian airship used mainly for meteorological research.
The ministry said the airship has limited "self-steering" capabilities and "deviated far from its planned course" because of winds.
"The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace due to force majeure," the statement said, citing a legal term used to refer to events beyond one's control.
From military spy satellites in space to advanced electronic intelligence aircraft and submarines, the US routinely deploys an array of assets to monitor China's military build-up, analysts and diplomats say.
Story by: Joanna Robin
Original story link:https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-04/us-secretary-of-state-antony-blinken-cancels-china-trip/101930914
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