Chinese ‘surveillance’ balloon in US airspace is an ‘unacceptable’ violation of sovereignty, Washington says.
Washington, DC – Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed a visit to China, the United States government has confirmed, calling the presence of an alleged Chinese spy balloon in American airspace an “unacceptable” violation of its sovereignty.
A senior Department of State official said on Friday that “conditions are not right” for the visit that was set to start on Sunday due to the “irresponsible” balloon flight.
China has expressed regret for the balloon entering US airspace, describing it as a civilian airship used for meteorological research that “deviated far from its planned course” because of its “limited self-steering capability”. But the US administration said the aircraft was a “high-altitude surveillance balloon”.
“We have noted the PRC [People’s Republic of China] 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,” the State Department official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.
The official stressed that lines of communication remain open between Washington and Beijing as they seek to “responsibly manage” the intensifying competition between the two countries.
“Our clear assessment was that under these current conditions, it wouldn’t be constructive to visit Beijing at this time, but I’ll also reiterate that this is a postponement and the secretary [Blinken] plans to travel at the earliest appropriate opportunity when conditions allow,” the official said.
Ties between Beijing and Washington have soured over numerous points of tension in recent years, including trade issues, the status of Taiwan, claims to the South China Sea and an ongoing US push against growing Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific.
The US has also been warning China against coming to Russia’s aid in Ukraine.
Blinken’s now-postponed trip was aimed at mitigating some of those tensions. It would have been the first visit by a US secretary of state to China since 2018, when then-top diplomat Mike Pompeo travelled to Beijing but did not meet president President Xi Jinping.
US President Joe Biden met with Xi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia late in 2022.
Both Chinese and US officials have stressed that they do not seek confrontation, warning against turning the competition into a new Cold War.
Reporting from the White House, Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett said the balloon controversy would have overshadowed Blinken’s trip to China.
“There are already a lot of big issues to be discussed between these two nations… This would be over arching over all of them,” she said.
The balloon was first observed over the northern US state of Montana on Thursday. But the Pentagon said on Friday that it is now “over the centre of the continental United States” without specifying over which state exactly.
“We currently assess that the balloon does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground at this time, and we’ll continue to monitor and review options,” Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder told reporters.
He added that the balloon is flying well above civilian air traffic.
Ryder also dismissed the Chinese explanation that the balloon was a civilian aircraft for research. “The fact is: We know that it’s a surveillance balloon,” he said.
Canada, which borders Montana and has frosty relation with China, said it had summoned the Chinese ambassador on Thursday over the incident.
“We will continue to vigorously express our position to Chinese officials through multiple channels,” the Canadian foreign ministry told Al Jazeera in an email.