U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, on Saturday while the pair were in Munich.
Saturday’s meeting at the Munich Security Conference was the first time the two top diplomats have spoken face-to-face since the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month. Blinken canceled his planned trip to China to speak with Wang on Feb. 5-6 after the balloon was spotted in the air above Montana.
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Relations between the countries have been frosty for years, and tensions escalated as the balloon made its way across the country.
Republican leaders, and some Democrats, were furious with President Joe Biden for not shooting the balloon down sooner and for not sharing information about the craft as soon as he was informed.
China responded with fury at the U.S. response, insisting the craft was a weather balloon gathering meteorological data that was blown off course.
When U.S. defense officials rejected that position, insisting they knew the balloon was being used to gather other intelligence, China criticized the country as being hypocritical, claiming that it has flown several balloons over Chinese territory without permission.
Before the meeting, Wang said the U.S. response to the incident was “absurd and hysterical.”
Earlier this week, China said it would take “countermeasures” against U.S. entities who were involved in shooting down the balloon.
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“China firmly opposes this and will take countermeasures in accordance with the law against the relevant U.S. entities that undermine China’s sovereignty and security,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Wednesday.
China will “resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and its legitimate rights and interests.”
