WASHINGTON –U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will postpone his trip to China next week following a suspected Beijing-operated spy balloon looming over parts of Montana.
“After consultations with our interagency partners, in addition to with Congress, we now have concluded that the conditions should not right at this moment for Secretary Blinken to travel to China,” a senior State Department official said Friday on a background briefing with reporters.
Blinken, who was slated to depart for Beijing on Friday evening, was scheduled to satisfy along with his Chinese counterpart, Minister of Foreign Affairs Qin Gang, and potentially Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well.
The official declined to say when Blinken would reschedule his travel to China, saying only that the department would “determine when the conditions are right.”
Chinese authorities said Friday that the balloon operating over U.S. airspace was a civilian weather balloon intended for scientific research. However the State Department said that was immaterial.
“We’ve noted the PRC statement of regret, however the presence of this balloon in our airspace is a transparent violation of our sovereignty in addition to international law and is unacceptable that this has occurred,” the official said.
While Blinken has postponed his travel, the U.S. and China haven’t suspended communication over the incident.
“From the moment this incident occurred, we now have been in regular and frequent contact with our Chinese counterparts and I do anticipate that may proceed,” said the State Department official, who asked to not be identified to debate a sensitive intelligence matter.
China’s Foreign Ministry said in a press release that westerly winds had caused the airship to stray into U.S. territory, describing the incident because of this of “force majeure” — or greater force — for which it was not responsible. “The airship comes from China and is of a civilian nature, used for scientific research equivalent to meteorology,” in response to a Google translation of a statement on the foreign ministry’s website.
On Thursday, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters that the U.S. was aware of the balloon and was confident that it was China’s.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as ground rules established by the Pentagon, added that President Joe Biden was briefed on the matter. Following consultations with senior leaders, including Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Biden decided the U.S. wouldn’t shoot down the balloon, the official said.
“We had been taking a look at whether there was an option yesterday over some sparsely populated areas in Montana,” said the official, who noted it was decided the possible debris field from the balloon could cause damage on the bottom and that its intelligence collection potential has “limited additive value” compared with Chinese spy satellites.
“We desired to take care that anyone didn’t get hurt or property wasn’t destroyed,” said the official, who noted that the balloon doesn’t pose a threat to civil aviation due to its high altitude.
On Capitol Hill, members of Congress sounded alarms and sought more information from the Biden administration.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Ca., said he had requested a briefing for the so-called “Gang of Eight,” the Republican and Democratic leaders of each the House and Senate, and the leaders from each parties of the Senate and House intelligence committees.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who represents the state where the balloon was first identified, said he’s involved with Defense Department and intelligence officials over the matter, but expressed frustration at the shortage of detail.
“We’re still waiting for real answers on how this happened and what steps the Administration took to guard our country, and I’ll hold everyone accountable until I get them,” Tester said in a press release Friday.
The Senate was not in a full session Friday, but Tester’s office said he’ll receive a classified briefing in a secure facility as soon as he returns to Washington.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the highest Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the military must have shot down the balloon.
“It was a mistake to not shoot down that Chinese spy balloon when it was over a sparsely populated area,” Rubio tweeted on Friday.
“This isn’t some hot air balloon, it has a big payload of sensors roughly the scale of two city buses & the power to maneuver independently,” Rubio added.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
