News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2023) The White House defended the postponement of Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip to China on Friday amid the discovery of a Chinese balloon in US airspace
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2023) The White House defended the postponement of Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip to China on Friday amid the discovery of a Chinese balloon in US airspace.
"It was a consensus that it was not appropriate to travel to the People's Republic of China at this time," Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing.
Blinken was scheduled to make a high-stakes diplomatic trip to China over the weekend. The decision to postpone came despite China's claim that the balloon was a research satellite collecting weather data that had blown off course.
The discovery of the airship was announced on Thursday by Pentagon officials who said a suspected surveillance balloon had been spotted over the state of Montana. By Friday afternoon, the balloon was over the United States Midwest.
