Blinken calls China flying spy balloon over US 'irresponsible'
Blinken calls China flying spy balloon over US 'irresponsible'

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken calls it "irresponsible" of China to send a surveillance balloon into US airspace after he scrapped a planned visit to Beijing over the issue.

Moments before Blinken's decision to cancel his trip, China issued a rare statement of regret over the balloon - which it insists was a civilian airship for "mainly meteorological purposes" - and blamed winds for pushing it into US airspace.

A second balloon was since spotted over Latin America.