US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has decided to postpone his planned visit to China this weekend after a Chinese spy balloon was detected in US airspace, multiple media reports, Friday, February 3 .
Antony Blinken did not want the subject of the ball to dominate his meetings with Chinese officials, ABC News reported, citing a US official.
For its part, Beijing said it "regrets" the "involuntary" violation of American airspace by an unmanned "civil aircraft".
"It is a civil aircraft used for research purposes, mainly meteorological", "coming from China", acknowledged a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release.
"The Chinese side regrets the involuntary entry of the aircraft into US airspace, a case of force majeure," he added.
With AFP
The summary of the
France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 app