Furor Over Chinese Spy Balloon over US skies Leads to a Diplomatic Crisis

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on Friday canceled a weekend trip to Beijing after a Chinese spy balloon was sighted above the Rocky Mountain state of Montana, igniting a frenzy of media coverage and political commentary over a machine that the Pentagon said posed no threat to the United States.

Mr. Blinken called the Chinese surveillance an “irresponsible act” and a “clear violation of U.S. sovereignty and international law.”

China’s “decision to take this action on the eve of my planned visit is detrimental to the substantive discussions that we were prepared to have,” he said at a news conference on Friday afternoon.

Mr. Blinken canceled the trip after civilians in Montana this week began spotting the balloon, which the Pentagon said was an “intelligence-gathering” airship. Military officials had been monitoring the balloon for days, and Mr. Blinken and a deputy secretly confronted Chinese diplomats in Washington on Wednesday. But it became a diplomatic crisis only as media attention mounted on Thursday night and Republican politicians called for President Biden and Mr. Blinken to act.

The balloon’s presence and Mr. Blinken’s announcement added to



the rising tensions between the two superpowers. The situation also underscored the sensitive politics in the United States as both Democratic and Republican leaders vie to be seen as sufficiently hawkish on China.

Mr. Blinken had planned to leave Friday night for the trip, the first visit by a U.S. secretary of state to China since 2018. He had been expected to meet with President Xi Jinping and discuss a wide range of issues. But Mr. Blinken said he called Wang Yi, China’s top foreign policy official, on Friday and said he was postponing his trip because of the balloon.

Mr. Blinken said he told Mr. Wang he would visit China “when conditions allow.”

Mr. Wang told Mr. Blinken in a phone call late on Friday that “China is a responsible country and has always strictly abided by international law,” the Chinese foreign ministry said on its website.

The brief Chinese summary of their call did not mention the balloon or Mr. Blinken’s cancellation of his trip, but suggested China’s leaders believed the Biden administration had blown the incident out of proportion. Mr. Wang, the summary said, urged that both sides must “avoid misjudgments, and manage and control their disagreements.”