After Blinken Postpones Beijing Trip Following Spy Balloon Sighting, China Asks US Not to Fan Flames

After US Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed his Beijing visit following the sighting of China’s spy balloon over Billings, in the US state of Montana.

China has maintained its stance and said that it is a weather balloon and it went astray. They have also said that the weather entering the US airspace was an accident.

“China never violated the territory and airspace of any sovereign country. Some politicians and media in the United States used the (balloon) incident as a pretext to attack and smear China,” the Chinese foreign ministry said.

China’s reactions come after Conservative and rightwing American politicians accused the US of being weak on China. “SHOOT DOWN THE BALLOON!” former US president Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Republican contender for the US President Nikki Haley also urged the Biden administration to shoot down the balloon and said that China is “walking all over the US”.

Republican senator Marco Rubio, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence panels, said that the Biden administration should have shot down the balloon over a sparsely populated area.

The Chinese foreign ministry said maintaining channels of communication at all levels remains important, “especially in dealing with some unexpected situations in a calm and reliable manner”, according to a report by AFP.

Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said that the steering and surveillance apparatus below the balloon is roughly 90 feet, according to a report by CNN, which would roughly be equal to three buses.

Officials have cited concerns that if it was shot down then the debris would hurt people on the ground.

The substructure beneath the suspected Chinese spy balloon, believed by officials to be the steering and surveillance apparatus, is roughly 90 feet, according to a defense official. That’s roughly the length of three city buses.

The balloon carrying that substructure is significantly larger and taller, the source said.

Earlier Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the balloon has a “large payload underneath the surveillance component,” comparing it to a basket under a blimp.

In terms of size, Ryder had said the balloon is big enough that officials are worried about potential debris possibly hurting people on the ground if the US were to shoot it down.

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