Secretary of state postpones China visit after spy balloon flies over US – reports

China claims balloon was for ‘meteorological’ purposes and was blown off course

• Spy balloons: what are they and why are they still being used?

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is reported to have postponed a planned visit to China this weekend after the intrusion of a high-altitude Chinese balloon into US airspace.

China had claimed the balloon that flew over Canada and the US was for “mainly meteorological purposes” and had been blown off course, and apologised to the US for its “unintended entry” into American airspace. But the postponement of Blinken’s visit, reported by Bloomberg and ABC News, suggests that the Biden administration views the overflight as a major incident in bilateral relations.