Chinese Foreign Ministry says damage to relations with the United States after the destruction of the balloon

Washington’s decision to shoot down a Chinese balloon in US airspace has damaged relations between the two countries, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng said on China Central Television.

“The actions of the United States have seriously affected and harmed the efforts of both sides in the process of stabilizing Sino-American relations after the meeting (US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping) in Bali,” – leads his words to RIA Novosti.

China, he added, strongly protests and urges to avoid further actions that escalate tensions and damage China’s interests, the diplomat added.

How wrote Earlier, Vedomosti, due to the incident, the first visit of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to Beijing since 2018, scheduled for February 5–6, has already been canceled. Blinken was scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. A statement posted on the State Department website said that under the current circumstances, the Secretary of State’s visit would be “inappropriate.”

The Pentagon announced the discovery of the Chinese apparatus on February 3. The military abandoned the idea of ​​shooting down the balloon, allegedly because of fears of harm that the debris could cause to people. Subsequently, on February 5, US President Joe Biden, who was informed of the incident, stated that he had ordered the downing of the balloon on February 1. As a result, the Chinese balloon was shot down on February 4 over the Atlantic Ocean, about 19 km from the coast of North Carolina.

Washington believes that the balloon was engaged in “observation of strategic objects.” His route lay near the positions of intercontinental ballistic missiles and the air base of strategic bombers. The Chinese side claims that the balloon was a Chinese meteorological probe.