China refused a conversation with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin following the downing of the suspected Chinese balloon, the Pentagon said in a statement Tuesday.
The Defense Department submitted a request for a call between Austin and China’s Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe immediately after the US fighter jets shot down the balloon on Saturday afternoon. But China declined the request, according to the Pentagon.
“We believe in the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between the United States and the [People’s Republic of China] in order to responsibly manage the relationship,” Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in the statement.
China maintains the vessel was a weather balloon thrown off course but did offer a rare expression of “regret” over it in a statement Friday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a trip to Beijing that was due to take place last weekend over the presence of the balloon, and President Joe Biden’s decision to shoot it down has further heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing.
Beijing’s rhetoric hardened significantly after the US military shot down the balloon, with China’s Foreign Ministry accusing the US of “overreacting” and “seriously violating international practice.” The Defense Ministry, meanwhile, expressed “solemn protest,” warning China “reserves the right to use necessary means to deal with similar situations.”
On Monday, China’s Foreign Ministry said the debris of the balloon does not belong to the US. “The airship is China’s, not the US,’” a spokesperson for the ministry said at a regular news conference, when asked about whether the US should return the remnants of the balloon to China.
Austin last met his Chinese counterpart in November on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asia…
Read the full article here
