China: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken postpones visit to Beijing Feb. 3 /update 1

Event

US officials have postponed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Beijing Feb. 3. The decision comes amid reports of the detection of an alleged Chinese surveillance balloon in the US state of Montana. The trip was slated to occur Feb. 5-6. It was not immediately clear when the secretary of state's visit would be rescheduled.

Context

Blinken's trip to Beijing Feb. 5-6 was slated to be the first visit of a senior US official to China since 2018. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has notably asserted that the balloon's presence over Montana is a violation of US sovereignty. China has claimed that the balloon is a civilian airship conducting meteorological research that veered off course due to inclement weather.