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Bloomberg
China questioned whether the US genuinely seeks to repair ties damaged by the dispute over a balloon just as the two nations’ top diplomats head to a security conference in Germany, where they may have an opportunity to meet on the sidelines.
The balloon saga “tests the US’s sincerity and capability to properly handle crises and stabilise relations with China,†Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular press briefing in Beijing.
“The US cannot ask for communication and dialog on the one hand while sharpening differences and escalating crises on the other,†he said, later calling on Washington to “properly handle this unexpected, isolated incident†and put ties back on track.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, could hold their first talks since the balloon crisis kicked off nearly two weeks ago when they head to the Munich Security Conference starting from Friday.
The two had been considering a meeting, people familiar with the matter said, but China escalated the dispute by warning it will hit the US with “countermeasures†over the episode, which started when the Biden administration shot down what it said was a spy balloon that had drifted over the entire continental US.
Beijing didn’t say what those countermeasures would entail, but the government announced sanctions and fines against two key American defense companies due to their participation in arms sales to Taiwan: Lockheed Martin Corp and a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies Corp.