Blinken: ‘No apology’ from China for balloon
Secretary of State was ‘very direct’ to his counterpart
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said China offered “no apology” after a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, over the Chinese spy balloon incident.
“I don’t want to characterize what he said. I don’t think that would be appropriate,” Blinken said of the meeting in an interview that aired Sunday with NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Although I can tell you, no, there was no apology.”
Blinken’s meeting, at the Munich Security Conference, was the first face-to-face meeting between senior United States and Chinese officials after the military shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the South Carolina coast on Feb. 4.
The discovery of the balloon originally prompted the U.S. to postpone a visit to Beijing by Blinken that was aimed at reducing tensions between the two nations. Blinken said the original visit was not discussed in his meeting in Munich.
“We really focused on the balloon incident,” Blinken said.
The balloon, which flew over sensitive military sites including missile and nuclear weapon sites in Montana, was an intentional act according to Blinken. The military advised President Joe Biden to wait to shoot down the balloon as it flew over the U.S. to avoid the possibility of any debris harming anyone on the ground.
“It attempted to surveil very sensitive military sites. In some cases, it loitered or returned to them as it progressed east.” said Blinken. “So there’s no doubt in our minds at all that, A: this was a surveillance balloon. And B: it was attempting to engage in active surveillance.”
Blinken added in an interview that aired Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that the conversation was “very direct.”
“I told Wang Yi, my Chinese counterpart, (the balloon) was unacceptable and must never happen again,” said Blinken.
Biden recently defended the shootdown, saying he has “no apologies” for the takedown and that he expects to be speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the balloon.
“We are going to get to the bottom of this,” Biden said in remarks Thursday.
The balloon incident and its aftermath has highlighted the rising tensions in the rivalry between the United States and China but Blinken urged caution, calling the situation “complicated.”
“You can’t reduce this to a bumper sticker or to a label. It’s complicated.” Blinken said when asked by NBC’s Chuck Todd if the tensions could be considered another Cold War. “It’s consequential. And we need to manage it responsibly.”
But Blinken warned the situation did risk becoming another Cold War, stressing the importance of open lines of communication with Beijing on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“We have to make sure that the competition that we’re clearly engaged in, does not veer into conflict, into a new Cold War.” Blinken said. “It’s not in our interest. I won’t speak to theirs, but it’s not in ours.”