The Chinese refused to apologize to the United States for the balloon

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken did not wait for an apology from the Chinese side for the incident with the balloon, TASS reports citing NBC.

The report says that during a meeting with the head of the office of the foreign affairs commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Wang Yi, the head of the State Department did not receive an apology.

At the same time, Blinken himself stated at the meeting that “US sovereignty, as well as international law,” were violated, and the ball itself was reconnaissance, and such incidents should not be repeated.

Blinken’s meeting with Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference was the first since the incident with the Chinese balloon.

Earlier it was reported about the detection of a Chinese balloon over the territory of the United States. According to the US Department of Defense, he flew over the Aleutian Islands and the territory of Canada before entering the atmosphere over the northern states of the United States. The Pentagon declared that the ball belonged to China and destroyed it. The Pentagon later reported that American experts were able to examine valuable equipment from the downed Chinese balloon, the Pentagon said in a statement.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry first called for an end to speculation on information about the appearance of an alleged Chinese balloon over the United States until all the circumstances were clarified. Then the Foreign Ministry admitted that the balloon was indeed Chinese. They specified that the balloon was used for scientific research, and ended up over the United States because it deviated from the route due to the wind.

The story with the ball happened on the eve of the scheduled visit to Beijing by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. He notified the Chinese side of the decision to postpone the trip due to the balloon situation.