Identification of Chinese spy balloon over Latin America prompts scrapping of rare trip to Beijing by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
\n WASHINGTON
\nA Chinese spy balloon has been spotted over Latin America, the Pentagon said a day after a similar craft was seen in US skies, prompting the scrapping of a rare trip to Beijing by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
\nThe Pentagon said the first balloon was now heading eastwards over the central United States, adding it was not being shot down for safety reasons.
\nLater Friday, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said: \u201cWe are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America.\u201d
\n\u201cWe now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,\u201d he added, without specifying its exact location.
\nMoments before Blinken\u2019s decision to cancel his trip \u2014 aimed at easing tensions between the two countries \u2014 China issued a rare statement of regret over the first balloon and blamed winds for pushing what it called a civilian airship into US airspace.
\nBut President Joe Biden\u2019s administration described it as a maneuverable \u201csurveillance balloon\u201d.
\nWith the rival Republican Party already on the offensive, Blinken postponed a two-day visit that was to have started Sunday.
\nIn a telephone call with senior Chinese official Wang Yi, Blinken said he \u201cmade clear that the presence of this surveillance balloon in US airspace is a clear violation of US sovereignty and international law, that it\u2019s an irresponsible act.\u201d
\nBlinken said, however, that he told Wang \u201cthe United States is committed to diplomatic engagement with China and that I plan to visit Beijing when conditions allow.\u201d
\n\u201cThe first step is getting the surveillance asset out of our airspace. That\u2019s what we\u2019re focused on,\u201d Blinken told reporters.
\nAccording to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, Wang said the two discussed the incident \u201cin a calm and professional manner.\u201d
\n\u201cChina is a responsible country and has always strictly abided by international law,\u201d Xinhua quoted Wang as telling Blinken.
\n\u201cWe do not accept any groundless speculation and hype,\u201d he said, calling both sides to \u201cavoid misjudgments and manage divergence.\u201d
\n\u2018Pretext to attack China\u2019
\nOn Saturday, the Chinese foreign ministry released a statement addressing Blinken\u2019s announcement that his trip would not go ahead.
\n\u201cSome politicians and media in the United States used the (balloon) incident as a pretext to attack and smear China,\u201d it said.
\nThe statement further added in regard to Blinken\u2019s trip, which had been widely publicised in the United States: \u201cAs a matter of fact, neither China nor the United States has announced any visit.
\n\u201cIt is the United States\u2019 own decision to release the relevant information and we respect that.\u201d
\nBlinken would have been the first top US diplomat to visit China since October 2018, signaling a thaw following intense friction under former president Donald Trump.
\nLast month, Blinken said he would use the trip to help establish \u201cguardrails\u201d to prevent the relationship from escalating into all-out conflict.
\nRepublican lawmakers, meanwhile, were quick to pounce on the balloon incident, casting Biden \u2014 who has largely preserved, and at times expanded, Trump\u2019s hawkish policies on China \u2014 as weak.
\n\u201cPresident Biden should stop coddling and appeasing the Chinese communists. Bring the balloon down now and exploit its tech package, which could be an intelligence bonanza,\u201d tweeted Senator Tom Cotton, a prominent hardliner who had urged Blinken to call off his trip.
\n\u201cShoot down the balloon!\u201d added Trump on his Truth Social media platform.
\n\u2018Force majeure\u2019
\nAfter initial hesitation, Beijing admitted ownership of the \u201cairship\u201d and said it veered off course due to wind.
\n\u201cThe airship is from China. It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes,\u201d said the statement attributed to a foreign ministry spokesperson.
\n\u201cThe Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace due to force majeure,\u201d it said, using the legal term for an act outside of human control.
\nA US defense official said earlier that Biden had asked for military options but that the Pentagon believed shooting the object down would put people on the ground at risk from debris.
\nThe balloon has \u201climited additive value from an intelligence collection perspective,\u201d the defense official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
\nThe United States is also widely believed to spy on China, although generally with more advanced technology than balloons.
\nThe northwestern United States is home to sensitive airbases and nuclear weapons in underground silos.
\nBracing for worst
\nIn the Philippines, visiting US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin this week agreed to expand the US military presence there, weeks after sealing a separate troop deal with another regional ally, Japan.
\nThe moves indicate the United States is preparing for potential conflict over Taiwan, the self-governing democracy China claims as its own, despite diplomatic efforts.
\nBiden held a surprisingly cordial meeting in November with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a summit in Bali, where they agreed to send Blinken to Beijing.
\nA US military officer recently told his forces to be ready for war with China.
\n\u201cI hope I am wrong. My gut tells me we will fight in 2025,\u201d Air Mobility Command chief General Mike Minihan wrote in a memo, saying that US elections in 2024 would also \u201coffer Xi a distracted America.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Identification of Chinese spy balloon over Latin America prompts scrapping of rare trip to Beijing by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken WASHINGTON A Chinese spy balloon has been spotted over Latin America, the Pentagon said a day after a similar craft was seen in US skies, prompting the scrapping of a rare trip to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311804,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-311776","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n