China stalls US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's Beijing visit over 'spy balloon' concerns: Financial Times

April 15

China has refused to let US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visit Beijing over concerns that the FBI will release the results of an investigation into the downed suspected Chinese spy balloon, Financial Times reported on Saturday citing sources.

China told the United States it wasn’t prepared to reschedule a trip that Blinken had cancelled back in February while it remains unclear what US President Joe Biden’s administration would do with the report, the newspaper said citing four people familiar with the negotiations.

Earlier this week, Blinken said that he would pursue a visit to China when the conditions are right. He also added that the goal is not to contain China or engage in a new Cold War.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon said it could not confirm reports that a Chinese spy balloon had been able to transmit intelligence in real time back to China as it flew over sensitive military sites in the United States earlier this year, adding that US analysis was still ongoing.

China’s suspected surveillance balloon first passed into US airspace north of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands on Jan. 28 The balloon spent a week flying over the United States and Canada before the US military shot it down off the Atlantic Coast on Biden’s orders.