《TAIPEI TIMES》 US says new balloon in Latin America; China downplays Blinken cancelation

/ AFP, WASHINGTON

A suspected Chinese surveillance balloon has been spotted over Latin America, the Pentagon said on Friday, a day after a similar craft was seen in US skies, prompting the scrapping of a rare trip to Beijing by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The Pentagon said the first balloon was now heading eastward over the central US.

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Later, Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said: “We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America.”

“We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” he said, without specifying its exact location.

Moments before Blinken’s decision to cancel his trip — aimed at easing tensions between the two countries — China issued a rare statement of regret over the first balloon, and blamed winds for pushing what it called a civilian airship into US airspace.

However, US President Joe Biden’s administration described it as a maneuverable “surveillance balloon.”

The balloon was spotted earlier over Montana, which is home to one of the US’ three nuclear missile silo fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base, US defense officials said.

Biden had declined to shoot the balloon down, following advice of defense officials who worried the debris could injure people below.

With the Republican Party already on the offensive, Blinken postponed a two-day visit that was to have started today.

In a telephone call with Wang Yi （王毅）, director of China’s Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, Blinken said he “made clear that the presence of this surveillance balloon in US airspace is a clear violation of US sovereignty and international law, that it’s an irresponsible act.”

However, Blinken said that he told Wang “the United States is committed to diplomatic engagement with China and that I plan to visit Beijing when conditions allow.”

“The first step is getting the surveillance asset out of our airspace. That’s what we’re focused on,” Blinken sad.

“Some politicians and media in the United States used the [balloon] incident as a pretext to attack and smear China,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement yesterday.

The statement said that in regard to Blinken’s trip, which had been widely publicized in the US: “As a matter of fact, neither China nor the United States has announced any visit.”

“It is the United States’ own decision to release the relevant information and we respect that,” it said.

Blinken would have been the first top US diplomat to visit China since October 2018.

Additional reporting by AP

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES