U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in Munich on Saturday and told him the violation of U.S. airspace by China’s high-altitude surveillance balloon must never occur again.
“The Secretary made clear the United States will not stand for any violation of our sovereignty, and that the PRC’s high altitude surveillance balloon program — which has intruded into the air space of over 40 countries across 5 continents — has been exposed to the world,” Ned Price, State Department spokesperson said in a statement after the meeting, referring to China by its full name of People's Republic of China.
Blinken also warned Wang of “the implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia or assistance with systemic sanctions evasion,” Price said.
Effort to east tension
The two met in an undisclosed location in an effort widely seen as an attempt to cool rising tensions between the two countries.
The meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference is the first face-to-face talk between the two top diplomats since the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon this month. The incident led Blinken to postpone a planned trip to Beijing.
Earlier Saturday, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris told an audience at the Munich Security Conference that she is troubled by the Beijing government’s deepening relationship with Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine. Harris added that the Chinese support for Russia amid its war on Ukraine would undermine rule-based international order.
Also Saturday, Wang — whose title is director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee — said the U.S. shootdown of the Chinese "airship" is “a clear violation of in ..
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