US Secretary of State Anthony Brinken attends a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Nusa Dua, Indonesia’s resort island of Bali, July 9, 2022.
Stephanie Reynolds | AP
Secretary of State Anthony Brinken met with senior Chinese diplomats at a conference in Munich on Saturday, a State Department spokesman said.
Blinken and Wang Yi, head of the Central Foreign Affairs Bureau of the Communist Party of China, met while attending the Munich Security Conference, a spokesperson said.
Brinken did not answer questions from reporters later on Saturday.
Diplomatic tensions between the United States and China have increased since a Chinese spy balloon that China claims was not intended for espionage was shot down.
After a balloon crash off the coast of South Carolina on February 4, the United States and China exchanged strong words, with China’s Foreign Ministry in a statement expressing “strong dissatisfaction and protest against the use of force” by the United States.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin It later said the balloons were used by the People’s Republic of China “to monitor strategic sites in the mainland United States.”
rear China condemned US decision In an interview with NBC News on Thursday, President Joe Biden said he planned to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but did not say when. ”
Earlier Thursday, Biden made his first remarks about a Chinese balloon and three unidentified objects flying over North America that were shot down by U.S. forces. One he was shot down over Alaska on February 10th, another one he was shot down over Canada on February 11th and a third he was shot down over Lake Huron on February 12th. .
In his remarks at the White House, he said, “I have ordered the removal of these three objects because I have not been able to eliminate the danger to civilian commercial air traffic and the surveillance risk of classified facilities.” If there is anything that threatens the safety and security of the American people, I will remove it.”
Biden said the United States still does not know what the three other objects over North America were shot down by the military this week. He suggested that he believed he had no purpose.
“We’re not asking for a new Cold War, but we’re not apologizing,” Biden said. increase.”
US Northern Command On Friday, it recommended a halt to searches for debris from two objects shot down in US airspace this month.
early this month, Blinken postponed trip to Beijing “At this time, we have concluded that the conditions for Secretary Brinken’s visit to China are not appropriate,” a senior State Department official said after the balloon was spotted over the United States.