Chinese spy balloon row sinks US talks in Beijing

ANXIOUS US security officials were last night maintaining a ‘constant fix’ on a suspected Chinese spy balloon seen hovering at high altitude over American nuclear missile silos.

The presence of the balloon caused turbulence in Washington’s relationship with Beijing.

China insisted yesterday that it was merely a weather monitoring

‘Taking steps to be extra vigilant’

asset. But US Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a planned trip to China due to tensions caused by the balloon, which was seen over the state of Montana, home to much of the US’s nuclear arsenal.

Last night the Pentagon said it had changed course to move eastwards and was now over the central US at an altitude of 60,000ft.

US officials have released few details about the balloon. They said only that it was ‘sizeable’ and large enough to cause damage from debris if shot down, which meant that option had been ruled out. The balloon’s direction of travel has been monitored at close range by heavily armed US fighter jets.

In a rare conciliatory move, China expressed ‘regret’ over the presence of the balloon in US airspace – a clear violation of US sovereignty and international law.

The same balloon was also spotted over Alaska and Canada. It has been travelling at such high altitude that there was no threat to commercial aircraft flying thousands of feet below.

While spy balloons have been spotted over the US before, this balloon has spent much longer in American airspace. It was first identified on Wednesday.

US defence officials confirmed it has flown over a number of sensitive sites. They said they were ‘taking steps to be extra vigilant so we can mitigate any foreign intelligence risk’.

Mr Blinken, who had been due to arrive in Beijing tomorrow, is expected to reschedule his visit once ‘conditions are right’ and all diplomatic channels between the US and China will remain open. China insisted the balloon was for ‘civilian meteorological and other scientific purposes’ and that it had accidentally strayed off course.