Biden administration State Department officials held private consultations with their Beijing counterparts about the Chinese spy balloon that intercepted US airspace in 2023, discussing the impact of balloon promotions on US-China relations.
The Pentagon issued a statement on the issue two days after US officials identified a spy balloon permeating US airspace on January 28, 2023, and shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on February 4, 2023.
Biden officials discussed balloons with Beijing on February 1, 2023, and discussed the possible impact of balloons on their relationship with China, a State Department document told two administration officials to Fox News Digital.
China’s Spy Balloons Equipped with At least 5 US Enterprise Technology: Report
The suspicious Chinese spy balloon drifts into the sea after being shot down on the coast of South Carolina, South Carolina, on February 4, 2023. (Randall Hill/Reuters)
An internal State Department read of talks between Blinken and Chinese diplomats said that if the balloon’s presence is publicly revealed, it could have a “profound impact on our relationship” especially with China.
Reading said that the incident could have completed Blinken’s travel plans to China in early February 2023, if not resolved immediately. Blinken ultimately postponed the trip until June 2023.
A former Biden administration official told Fox News Digital that the State Department summoned senior Chinese diplomat Zhu Haiquan on February 1, 2023, allowing the US to inform China to remove balloons and a warning that the US could take action to eliminate balloons.
“Former Secretary Blinken has insisted on telling Americans about Chinese fraudulent balloons, and that’s exactly what happened,” a spokesman for the former Secretary of State said in a statement Tuesday to Fox News Digital. “He has a tough history in China, actually providing results.”
Similarly, another State Department official held a private consultation with his Chinese counterpart on February 1, 2023. The read from that discussion states that the longer it takes to mitigate the problem, the more likely it will be to publish balloon news, and only raise the major challenges of managing the situation.
What happened… A Chinese spy balloon investigation
The US military retrieves debris from a Chinese surveillance balloon in South Carolina. (US Fleet Forces)
Ultimately, the Pentagon issued a statement on February 2, 2023, claiming that the US government had detected a “high-altitude surveillance balloon.”
Carine Jean Pierre, then director of the White House Press, told reporters that Biden received a balloon briefing on January 31, 2023, but she did not provide details as to why his administration did not issue a statement on the issue until February 2, 2023.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, then a US Senator in Florida, repeatedly criticized the Biden administration for how he handled public information about balloons and how long it took him to shoot it down.
The failure to deal with Biden’s situation early was “the beginning of the release of duty,” Rubio said when he appeared on CNN with Jake Tupper.
“Why didn’t the president appear on TV?” Rubio told Tupper. “He has the ability to convene the country on camera and explain essentially what he’s dealing with here.”
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US Air Force pilots are looking down on suspicion of Chinese surveillance balloons as they were hovered over the US Central Continent on February 3, 2023. The recovery effort began shortly after the balloon fell. (US Department of Defense / Handouts /Anadoll Agency via Getty Images)
On February 4, 2023, the Air Force F-22 Raptor Fighter Jet at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia shot down a balloon off the coast of South Carolina with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile.
At the time, the Pentagon said balloons were not a military or physical threat, but their presence in US airspace violated US sovereignty. The Pentagon also shut down China’s first claim that balloons were blown off the course and labeled such a statement as false.
“It was a PRC surveillance balloon,” a senior official at the time told reporters. “This surveillance balloon intentionally crossed the US and Canada. I’m sure it is trying to monitor sensitive military sites.”
The Pentagon also said similar balloons from China passed airspace on Continental US in at least three cases during Trump’s first administration after shooting down the balloon.
Seafarers assigned to the Attack Craft Unit prepare materials recovered off the coast of Myrtle Beach in the Atlantic Ocean from a Chinese high-altitude balloon shooting on February 10, 2023, at Little Creek, a joint expedition in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Additionally, Biden “gived permission to defeat the Chinese surveillance balloons as soon as the mission was achieved under the balloon path without undue risk,” the official said debris could harm civilians.
The Pentagon later said in June 2023 that it did not believe Balloon had gathered information when he traveled the US.
Blinken is currently a CAA speaker speaker and represents a well-known celebrity.
A Biden spokesman did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital.
Diana Stancy is a political reporter for Fox News Digital, covering the White House.
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