US President Biden to talk to China's Xi in wake of balloon controversy

United States President Joe Biden on Thursday said that he will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in the wake of the shooting down of a Chinese balloon by the US Air Force earlier this month, which Washington claimed to be a high-tech Chinese spy device.

"I expect to be speaking with President Xi and... we're going to get to the bottom of this," Biden said, in the most extensive public remark made by him since the incident that took place on February 4.

While emphasising that the United States is "not looking for a new Cold War”, Biden said, "I make no apologies for taking down that balloon." "We'll always act to protect the interests of the American people and the security of the American people,” he added.

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The United States has remained in a state of alarm since a huge white Chinese balloon was spotted flying over various secret nuclear weapons sites. China has claimed that the balloon is just a stray weather research craft, however, US officials claim that they have conclusive evidence that the balloon was a spy device.

The shooting down of the balloon created a diplomatic rift between the two countries with Secretary of State Antony Blinken's China visit getting abruptly cancelled. Beijing called Washington's actions an overreaction and claimed that there have been numerous incidents of US balloons flying over Chinese territory.

"We don't yet know exactly what these three objects were. Nothing right now suggests they're related to China's spy balloon programme or... surveillance vehicles from any other countries. The intelligence community's current assessment is that these three objects are most likely balloons tied to private companies" or research projects, said Biden.

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However, "if any object presents a threat to the safety, security (of) the American people I will take it down," he added.

Resetting relations with China has become a top priority of Biden, which Washinton calls its biggest competitor. Biden and Xi have earlier expressed their wish to establish "guard rails" to avoid their superpower competition from becoming a conflict.

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Wednesday had said that the two countries have not "stopped communicating and trying to understand each other".

In the last two weeks, Biden added that his government has been "continuing to engage with China". "We seek competition, not conflict. This episode underscores the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between our diplomats and our military professionals,” he said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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