Blinken describes confrontation with China over the ball and warns against supporting Russia

During an hour-long conversation over the weekend, top diplomats from China and the United States zigzagged through an agenda filled with contentious topics, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken issuing blunt warnings to his counterpart regarding Beijing’s extensive spy balloon program and fearing the country is stepping up support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We had a very direct and very clear conversation about sending the Chinese surveillance balloon into our territory in violation of our sovereignty, in violation of international law,” said ABC “This Week” co-anchor Blinken. , Martha Raddatz, in an interview right after her speech behind closed doors. “I told Wang Yi, my Chinese counterpart, that this action was unacceptable and should never happen again.”

The meeting, which took place Saturday evening on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, was the first in-person interaction between Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi since a suspected Chinese surveillance plane was spotted. hovering over US airspace. prompting Blinken to scuttle plans for a visit to Beijing at the last minute.

The lengthy discussion exposed deep rifts between the two superpowers and raised fears that what is often described as the world’s most important bilateral relationship could deteriorate to dangerous levels.

Writing in “This Week” on Sunday, Blinken also clarified that US concerns about China go beyond espionage, saying he had expressed “growing concern” that Beijing is considering providing military aid to Russia for support its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, a focal point of the summit in Munich.

“China is committed to providing rhetorical, political and diplomatic support to Russia,” Blinken said. “But we have information that makes us fear that they plan to provide deadly support to Russia in the war against Ukraine. And it was important for me to make it very clear to Wang Yi that this would be a serious problem. “

It is unclear whether Wang will heed this warning. U.S. officials, including Blinken, were hesitant to characterize the Chinese side of the conversation, but said no apology was offered for the surveillance balloon incident.

In fact, in the days after the plane was shot down off South Carolina on February 4, China only doubled down on its claims that the balloon was a harmless, unmanned civilian vehicle – an explanation that directly conflicts with the United States. assessments.

In the hours leading up to his meeting with Blinken, Wang described the Biden administration’s response as “absurd and hysterical.”

Raddatz lobbied Blinken over the opinion of some U.S. officials that the path the balloon took over the continental United States may not have been the original plan.

“Martha, I can’t speak to their original intent,” Blinken said. But he pointed out that once the balloon was over the country, “the balloon attempted to monitor very critical and important military installations.”

In a first reading of Wang’s engagement with Blinken, Beijing said Wang “expressed China’s solemn position on the so-called airship incident, demanding that the United States change course and confront and resolve damage caused by the indiscriminate use of force.”

A later reading provided by the Chinese Foreign Ministry took a harsher view of both the ball altercation and China’s ties to Russia.

“If the United States continues to dramatize, exaggerate, or escalate the situation, it will deal with it for as long as it takes. Any resulting consequences will be borne by the U.S. side,” officials said. Chinese about the ball.

The officials said that during Wang’s meeting with Blinken, on Russia and Ukraine, Wang “stressed that…China adheres to the principles and remains committed to promoting peace talks.” The Chinese have declared their relationship with Russia a “comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination”, but insisted that it “is built on the basis of non-alliance, non-confrontation and non- targeting third countries”.

In the days after the balloon was shot down earlier this month, the State Department declassified intelligence that China had flown surveillance balloons over 40 countries, which Blinken said in “This Week” was a major concern for many officials in Munich.

“There’s a real concern that I’m hearing here from other countries, from allies and partners, about this program. And I think countries are – I was going to say ‘happy ‘, happy is not the right word – they appreciate the fact that we revealed it,” Blinken told Raddatz.

Another key objective of the conference was to maintain support for Ukraine as the country prepares for another Russian offensive.

Kiev has requested F-16 fighter jets, and while the United States has not ruled out the possibility, Blinken has signaled that the administration is not yet ready to hand over the plane.

“We are in close collaboration and coordination with the Ukrainians precisely on this issue of what do they need at any given time. But what is very important is this: what we should not do, no d “Between us is to focus or fixate on a particular weapon system because the weapon system itself, as important as it is, is not enough. You have to make sure that Ukrainians are trained on the systems that are provided,” Blinken said. “If they’re not trained on them, they can’t use them.”