The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, suspended this Friday his planned trip 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 balloon’s presence is about “a clear violation” of sovereignty and international law, so it is “unacceptable” and they have decided to postpone Blinken’s visit.
“The secretary informed the director of the Foreign Affairs Office (of China), Wang Yi, this morning that the trip had to be postponed.”, indicated the officials, who detailed that the suspension of the trip has been decided after consulting with different agencies of the United States Government and Congress.
Nonetheless, Blinken conveyed to Wang that he hopes to be able to travel to China.”as soon as possible when conditions permit.
Meanwhile, the United States will maintain the “open lines of communication” with Beijing to talk about the concern that has caused him “this incident” and to handle “responsible way” the competition between both countries, assured the officials.
Blinken was scheduled to leave tonight for Beijing on the first visit by a secretary of state to China since 2018.
However, on Thursday the Pentagon reported that it had detected a Chinese spy balloon flying at a high altitude over United States territory and that it had decided not to destroy it, although it was following it closely, given the danger that its debris might fall into. the surface.
China admitted this Friday that the globe belongs to it, although it assured that “is a civil airship used for research purposes, mainly meteorological”, and regretted “unintentional entry” of the device in US airspace.
The officials of the United States Department affirmed that their country recognizes and takes note of the “repentance statement from China”, despite the fact that the presence of the balloon in its airspace is “unacceptable” and one “clear violationof his sovereignty.
“Our clear assessment is that under these circumstances it would not be constructive to visit Beijing now, but we reiterate that it is a postponement.”, they remarked.
Despite this crisis, US officials stressed that their government believes in diplomacy to “responsibly manage the most complex bilateral relationshipWhat does the United States have?
“We are committed to keeping the lines open with China at all times, including during this incident.”, they pointed out.
Source: Gestion
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