'Job One Is Getting It Out': Blinken Scraps China Trip As 2nd Chinese Spy Balloon Spotted In US
Day after releasing a statement on a Chinese 'spy balloon' hovering over the US, the Pentagon confirmed detecting another such balloon over Latin America as Blinken cancels his Beijing trip.
New Delhi: The relationship between the United States and China does not seem to be getting better any time soon with the fresh ‘spy balloon’ scene in the picture. Now the Pentagon has confirmed a second such balloon flying over Latin America suspecting it to be another ‘Chinese surveillance balloon’.
According to AP, later Friday, the Pentagon acknowledged reports of a second balloon flying over Latin America. “We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement, declining to offer further information such as where it was spotted.
The development comes amidst a high-altitude Chinese balloon sailing across the US drawing severe spying accusations from Pentagon. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelled his China visit citing the recent developments.
Blinken was due to depart Washington for Beijing late Friday. However, according to AP, he confirmed telling a senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi on a phone call that sending the balloon over the US was “an irresponsible act and that (China’s) decision to take this action on the eve of my visit is detrimental to the substantive discussions that we were prepared to have.”
“Job one is getting it out of our airspace. We continue to believe that having open lines of communication is important. Indeed, this incident only underscores the importance, and that's why we will maintain them. That's why, when conditions permit, I plan to go to China. But the most important thing right now is to see that this surveillance asset gets out of our airspace, and we'll take it from there,” Blinken told reporters at a news conference, reported PTI
At the joint news conference with the visiting South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, Blinken said it was very important to emphasise that the presence of this surveillance balloon over the US skies was a clear violation of its sovereignty, international law, and clearly unacceptable.
“We have made that clear to China. Any country that has its airspace violated in this way I think would respond similarly. And I can only imagine what the reaction would be in China if they were on the other end,” he said.
After the matter garnered international coverage, China's Foreign Ministry reacted to the accusations and said that the balloon suspected of spying by the US was a "civilian airship" utilised for research, mostly meteorological objectives, news agency AP reported.
The Pentagon however rejected that out of hand as well as China’s contention that the balloon was not being used for surveillance and had only limited navigational ability, the report added.
According to the statement, the airship has limited steering capacity and "deviated considerably from its scheduled route" due to wind. It stated that China regrets the airship's unintentional incursion into US airspace
Because of fears about harming people on the ground, the Pentagon chose not to shoot down the balloon, which was potentially flying over vital installations.
The first balloon was spotted earlier over Montana, which is home to one of America’s three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base, defence officials said.
The report mentions that the US had been tracking the balloon since at least Tuesday, when President Joe Biden was first briefed, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. AP reported citing officials that initially, President Biden was inclined to order the surveillance balloon to be blown out of the sky.
The officials said Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, strongly advised Biden against shooting down the balloon due to its considerable weight as it could create a debris field large enough to endanger Americans on the ground, AP reported.
It was not the first time Chinese surveillance balloons have been tracked over US territory, including at least once during former President Donald Trump’s administration, officials said.
US officials said that diplomatic channels remain open and Blinken said he remained willing to travel to China “when conditions allow.”
“We continue to believe that having open lines of communication is important,” he said.
US President Biden declined to comment on the matter when questioned at an economic event. Two likely 2024 reelection challengers, Trump, and Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador, said the US should immediately shoot down the balloon, AP mentioned in its report.
Shoot down the balloon. Cancel Blinken’s trip. Hold China accountable.
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 3, 2023
Biden is letting China walk all over us. It’s time to make America strong again.
“Shoot down the balloon. Cancel Blinken’s trip. Hold China accountable. Biden is letting China walk all over us. It’s time to make America strong again,” Haley demanded in a tweet.
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