China has said it would reserve “the right to use the necessary means to deal with similar situations”.
| Beijing’s abrupt shift from expressing regret to threatening retaliation over the US spy-balloon claims, reflects the domestic imperative for Xi Jinping to show he’s standing up for China against external pressure, further narrowing the window to reset ties before the US election season gets into full swing.
Instead of establishing “guardrails” and holding high-level meetings — including possibly with President Xi — Mr Blinken ended up postponing his trip until a date yet to be determined. The balloon saga comes less than three months after President Joe Biden and Mr Xi agreed to resume talks in their first face-to-face meeting as leaders in Bali, a détente that has largely held despite US efforts to support Taiwan’s military and curb Chinese access to cutting-edge semiconductors. While few expected major breakthroughs from Mr Blinken’s scrapped visit, it was seen as an effort to preserve the status quo.
US lawmakers expressed bipartisan outrage about the overflight. Republicans faulted Mr Biden for not shooting down the balloon before it crossed the country, while Democrats portrayed his response as measured and firm.China tested Biden’s “strength and resolve — and unfortunately the president failed that test,” leading to China inflicting “humiliation” on the president, Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, said on “Fox News Sunday.
The Biden administration didn’t give China advance notice of the plan to shoot down the balloon, US officials said. Officials expect US-China relations to be difficult moving forward, but said both countries have reasons to put the incident behind them.AP
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