Washington, Feb 7 (PTI) The United States said on Tuesday that soon after its military shot down a Chinese spy balloon on Saturday, it requested to speak with Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe, and regretted the refusal it received.
“The relationship between our militaries is especially important at times like these,” said Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder. Unfortunately, the Chinese Communist Party denied our request. The commitment will continue.”
The US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, was to attend the declined call.
The United States requested that dialogue because it says it “believes in the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party in order to manage the relationship responsibly.”
The balloon had been flying over US national territory for several days and was shot down on Saturday. Its remains fell in the Atlantic Ocean and the US Navy has already recovered some.
The discovery of the device in US airspace has sparked a diplomatic crisis between Washington and Beijing and postponed a visit that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had planned to make to the Asian country last weekend.
Despite China’s allegation that the balloon was part of a civilian mission seeking to obtain meteorological data, the United States says it has enough evidence that it tried to spy on sensitive national security sites.
