WASHINGTON: A suspected Chinese spy balloon was observed flying across the United States, which Washington deemed to be a "clear violation" of American sovereignty. As a result, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken decided to postpone his trip to China, which was scheduled to begin on Friday.

On Wednesday, military officials considered shooting down the high-altitude surveillance balloon but ultimately advised against it to President Joe Biden due to the risk of injury from falling debris, according to officials.

On Friday, the Pentagon reported that another Chinese balloon had been spotted over Latin America without specifying where.

"Reports suggest that a balloon is passing through Latin America. Today, we determine that it is a further Chinese surveillance balloon "Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said.

Biden was informed about the balloon flight over the United States on Tuesday, according to White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, and the administration's "consensus that it was not appropriate to travel to the People's Republic of China at this time."

Commercial weather forecaster AccuWeather predicted that the balloon might leave the United States on Saturday night and cross the Atlantic. It would be beneficial to recover the balloon "one way or another," Republican senator Mike Rounds told Fox News, to determine "if it was designed to actually collect data or if it was designed to test our response capabilities." China's claim that the balloon was blown off course is directly refuted by the Pentagon's disclosure of the balloon's manoeuvrability.

Blinken stated that he would not specify a timeframe for his potential trip to China and that the current incident was the main priority. He stated that the removal of the surveillance asset from American airspace was the first step and that Washington would continue to have open lines of communication with China.

The balloon shouldn't have been allowed in American airspace, according to Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, and it could have been shot down over water.

He issued a statement saying, "I am calling on the Biden administration to swiftly take steps to remove the Chinese spy balloon from U.S. airspace."

In statements released on Saturday, China's foreign ministry claimed that the "airship's" flight over the United States was the result of a force majeure accident and accused American politicians and media of exploiting the circumstance to malign China.

It stated that Wang had advised Blinken over the phone to communicate promptly and prevent any erroneous conclusions.

An official from the White House claimed that on Thursday afternoon, the administration briefed the staff of the so-called Gang of 8, which consists of Republican and Democratic leaders from the Senate and House. Such balloon surveillance activity, according to the official, "has been observed over the past several years, including in the prior administration - we have kept Congress briefed on this issue." Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed to postpone Blinken's trip in November, which is a setback for those who saw it as a long overdue chance to mend a steadily deteriorating relationship.

China wants a stable relationship with the United States so that it can concentrate on its economy, which has been hurt by the now-abandoned zero-COVID policy and ignored by foreign investors who are concerned about what they perceive to be a return of state intervention in the market.

Chinese President Xi has met with world leaders recently in an effort to repair relations and resolve differences. Under former President Barack Obama, top U.S. diplomat for Asia Daniel Russel stated that he did not see a strategic justification for cancelling the trip and emphasized the significance of continuing high-level engagement with China. The Biden team "may be inclined to pick up where they left off after a decent interval" because the United States has "much bigger fish to fry with the Chinese than a surveillance balloon," he said.

The balloon was at a height well above commercial air traffic, according to Ryder of the Pentagon, and did not pose a military or physical threat to people on the ground. On Thursday, a different official said, without providing further details, that the balloon's flight path would pass over several sensitive locations. 150 intercontinental ballistic missile silos are located at the Montanan Malmstrom Air Force Base.Ryder on Friday declined to specify the
location of the balloon, but the National Weather Service in Kansas City tweeted that it had received numerous reports of a large balloon across northwest Missouri as he was speaking.