Secretary of State Blinken says China gave 'no apology' in Munich for spy balloon
Ken Tran
USA TODAY
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said China offered “no apology” after a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, over the Chinese spy balloon incident.
“I don't want to characterize what he said. I don't think that would be appropriate,” Blinken said of the meeting in an interview that aired Sunday with NBC’s "Meet the Press." “Although I can tell you, no, there was no apology.”
Blinken’s meeting, at the Munich Security Conference, was the first face-to-face meeting between senior United States and Chinese officials after the military shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the South Carolina coast on Feb. 4.
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United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken sits down for a Meeting of the Transatlantic Quad with the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023.
The discovery of the balloon originally prompted the U.S. to postpone a visit to Beijing by Blinken that was aimed at reducing tensions between the two nations. Blinken said the original visit was not discussed in his meeting in Munich.
“We really focused on the balloon incident,” Blinken said.
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The balloon, which flew over sensitive military sites including missile and nuclear weapon sites in Montana, was an intentional act according to Blinken. The military advised President Joe Biden to wait to shoot down the balloon as it flew over the U.S. to avoid the possibility of any debris harming anyone on the ground.
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“It attempted to surveil very sensitive military sites. In some cases, it loitered or returned to them as it progressed east.” said Blinken. “So there's no doubt in our minds at all that, A: this was a surveillance balloon. And B: it was attempting to engage in active
