US focus after Chinese balloon downing is on gathering details and consulting allies: State Department
- ‘This is a challenge that a number of countries around the world have been subjected to,’ says spokesman
- No bilateral discussion yet on rescheduling top American diplomat’s travel to Beijing, he adds
The Biden administration is prioritising gathering information on the suspected Chinese spy balloon the US shot down and coordinating with allies about the situation before discussing with Beijing when to reschedule a visit to the country by America’s top diplomat.
“We haven’t had conversations at this point about rescheduling the trip,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a press conference in Washington on Monday.
Washington was now focused on coordinating closely with its allies and partners, Price added, stating that sharing information, comparing notes and making sure they understood the information the US now had in its possession as well as the basis for its decision to take down the unstaffed airship.
“That’s going to continue to be our focus in the coming days.”
Price on Monday said the US had detected high-altitude surveillance balloons of the same variety as the one spotted over the northern American state of Montana across five continents. However, the spokesman did not specify when those detections had taken place.