US Postpones Blinken China Visit in Uproar Over Alleged Spy Balloon
- Blinken was set to have meetings in Beijing early next week
- China took unusually conciliatory steps to smooth things over
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed his upcoming trip to Beijing after the US detected what it called a Chinese surveillance balloon lingering at high altitude over sensitive nuclear sites in Montana.
Blinken was set to have meetings in Beijing early next week in the first such visit by a top US diplomat in five years. But the presence of the balloon — which the Pentagon decided not to shoot down — led officials to decide that going now would send the wrong signal.