The British Financial Times quoted sources as saying that China refused to allow US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to visit Beijing, due to fears of the release of the results of the investigation into the Chinese spy balloon.
Minister Blinken was supposed to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping last February, but he suddenly canceled his trip due to the entry of a Chinese balloon into American airspace.
On February 4, the US military shot down a Chinese balloon, which it described as a "spy balloon that violated the country's sovereignty," but China rejected the US accusations, saying that the balloon was civilian and entered US airspace due to circumstances out of control.
The Financial Times added that 4 people familiar with the negotiations between Beijing and Washington said that China had informed the United States that it was not ready to reschedule the flight that Blinken canceled to China after the discovery of the Chinese airship.
Beijing concern
According to the British newspaper, Chinese officials are concerned that the Biden administration may release the FBI report along with the material evidence from the balloon, and that the findings could be announced during the US Secretary of State's visit to China. If done.
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang raised the issue with US officials who attended the China Development Forum in Beijing in March, according to three people familiar with the meeting.
Chen described the FBI's investigation of the Chinese airship as another example of issues that have made it difficult to stabilize relations between Beijing and Washington.
The FBI and the US National Security Council refuse to disclose whether the US administration intends to announce the results of the investigations into the balloon case.
For its part, The Washington Post reported that leaked documents belonging to the US Department of Defense (Pentagon) indicate that the Chinese airship – which flew over the United States this year – carried a set of sensors and antennas that the US government could not yet identify. More than a week of dropping it.
The newspaper stated that the airship was one of 3 balloons, one of which flew over a US aircraft carrier, in an accident that had not been previously reported.
The Washington Post reported that the leaked intelligence documents reveal that US intelligence is aware of the existence of up to 4 additional Chinese spy balloons, which raised questions about the true capacity of the balloons that flew over American airspace in January and February.
