The Chinese balloon that flew over the United States in late January and was shot down in the Atlantic Ocean may have collected several pieces of information, but Washington said Monday the precautions taken prevented any important data from being obtained.
“The measures we took certainly limited what China could collect”Pentagon Undersecretary of Press Sabrina Singh said in statements to the media.
The Chinese “spy balloon” flew for days over various parts of the country, including the state of Montana (northwest), where one of the three fields of nuclear missile silos in the United States is located.
After the discovery of the Chinese balloon that Washington said was carrying out espionage operations, the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, canceled a trip to China “at the last minute” in February.
Relations between the US and China experienced a period of tension during the administration of Donald Trump (2017-2021), when both nations became embroiled in a cross-taxation trade war.
These tensions seemed to ease after a meeting in November that Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping held on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Bali, in which they agreed to cooperate on a number of areas, including climate change.
However, bilateral relations deteriorated again in February after the US shot down the alleged Chinese spy balloon.
The US wants the head of US diplomacy to resume the visit to China and is “actively in talks” with Beijing over the visit of two ministers to conduct economic dialogue, said John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council of China. American presidency.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo hope to visit China to “discuss economic issues,” the same official said.
Source: DN
