TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) \u2014 China played down the cancellation of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken after a\u00a0large Chinese balloon\u00a0suspected of conducting surveillance on U.S. military sites roiled diplomatic relations, saying that neither side had formally announced any such plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn actuality, the U.S. and China have never announced any visit, the U.S. making any such announcement is their own business, and we respect that,\u201d China\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Saturday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Blinken was due to visit Beijing on Sunday for talks aimed at reducing U.S.-China tensions, the first such high-profile trip after the countries\u2019 leaders met last November in Indonesia. But\u00a0the U.S. abruptly canceled the trip\u00a0after the discovery of the huge balloon despite China\u2019s claim that it was merely a weather research \u201cairship\u201d that had blown off course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pentagon rejected that out of hand \u2014 as well as China\u2019s contention that the balloon was not being used for surveillance and had only limited navigational ability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uncensored reactions on the Chinese internet mirrored the official government stance that the U.S. was hyping up the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many users made jokes about the balloon. Some said that since the U.S. had put restrictions on the technology that China is able to buy to weaken the Chinese tech industry, they couldn\u2019t control the balloon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others called it the \u201cwandering balloon\u201d in a pun that refers to the newly released Chinese sci-fi film called \u201cThe Wandering Earth 2.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still others used it as a chance to poke fun at U.S. defenses, saying it couldn\u2019t even defend against a balloon, and nationalist influencers leapt to use the news to mock the U.S. One wrote wryly: \u201cThe U.S., because of the balloon incident, delays Blinken\u2019s visit to China.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Censorship was visible on the topic \u2014 the \u201cwandering balloon\u201d hashtag on Weibo was no longer searchable by Saturday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe U.S. is hyping this as a national security threat posed by China to the U.S. This type of military threat, in actuality, we haven\u2019t done this. And compared with the U.S. military threat normally aimed at us, can you say it\u2019s just little? Their surveillance planes, their submarines, their naval ships are all coming near our borders,\u201d Chinese military expert Chen Haoyang of the Taihe Institute said on Phoenix TV, one of the major national TV outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The balloon was spotted earlier over Montana, which is home to one of America\u2019s three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base, defense officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Joe Biden had declined to shoot down the balloon, following advice of defense officials who worried the debris could injure people below. Meanwhile, people with binoculars and telephoto lenses tried to find the \u201cspy balloon\u201d in the sky as it headed southeastward over Kansas and Missouri at 60,000 feet (18,300 meters).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pentagon also acknowledged reports of a second balloon flying over Latin America. \u201cWe now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,\u201d Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a question about the second balloon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Blinken, who had been due to depart Washington for Beijing late Friday, said he had told senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi in a phone call that sending the balloon over the U.S. was \u201can irresponsible act and that (China\u2019s) decision to take this action on the eve of my visit is detrimental to the substantive discussions that we were prepared to have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China has denied any claims of spying, and said it is a civilian-use balloon intended for meteorology research. Experts have said that their response was feasible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But analysts said the unexpected incident will not help the strained ties between the two countries, and particularly China\u2019s initial response where it said they could not control the balloon and \u201cregretted\u201d that it unintentionally entered U.S. space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Saturday, China\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs again emphasized that the balloon\u2019s journey was out of its control and urged the U.S. to not \u201csmear\u201d it based on the balloon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wang said China \u201chas always strictly followed international law, we do not accept any groundless speculation and hype. Faced with unexpected situations, both parties need to keep calm, communicate in a timely manner, avoid misjudgments and manage differences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore, said China\u2019s apology did not appear sincere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the meantime, the relationship will not improve in the near future … the gap is huge.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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