Tense US-China meeting deepens balloon row

MUNICH, Feb 19 (BBC): As the rift between the US and China over the balloon saga widens, so has the divide within the global community scrutinising their high-stakes dispute.

The latest testy exchange took place on Saturday, when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met China's foreign affairs minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich, in the first high-level meeting since the row began.

Mr Blinken said they would not "stand for any violation of our sovereignty" and said "this irresponsible act must never again occur". Mr Wang, meanwhile, called the episode a "political farce manufactured by the US" and accused them of "using all means to block and suppress China".

China continues to deny that they sent a spy balloon, even as the US continues to disclose more details of the object to back up their allegation.

But beyond the dispute, the way both Beijing and Washington have responded to each other has come under close examination as the world grapples with the incident's implications for national security and geopolitical stability.

The net result, say observers, is that it has hardened positions - deepening distrust among those wary of China or the US - and made it significantly harder for Washington and Beijing to close the gap between them.

For some, the incident has heightened anxieties over the reach of Chinese espionage, as governments scramble to reassess what they know of China's surveillance capabilities. The US claims Chinese military balloons have crossed the airspace of more than 40 countries across five continents.

This week Japan - a key US ally - announced that after they had re-analysed past cases of unidentified flying objects, they "strongly suspect" that China had flown at least three spy balloons across their territory since 2019.