Munich Security Conference: Blinken and Wang hold 'candid talks' amid balloon spat

Participants of the Munich Security Conference arrived for the final day of the event, among them Lithuania’s President Ingrida Simonyte.

She, along with the prime ministers of Estonia and Sweden, Kaja Kallas and Ulf Kristersson, were among the last speakers before the 59th Munich gathering came to a close.

This year’s Munich Security Conference was dominated by the war in Ukraine, US- China relations and the approaching first anniversary of Russia’s invasion on Feb 24. 

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Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported that Wang told his US counterpart that their countries' relations had been damaged by America's response to a Chinese balloon flying over its territory. 

Xinhua reported that Wang "made clear China's solemn position on the so-called airship incident," and "urged the US side to change course, acknowledge and repair the damage that its excessive use of force caused to China-US relations". 

Meanwhile, a US official said that Blinken warned China that an incident in which a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon flew over US territory "must never again occur".  

On the sidelines of Munich conference, Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi met his South Korean counterpart Park Jin and reiterated the need for continued communications between the two countries. 

A statement released by the Japanese foreign ministry stated that the meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, the two foreign ministers agreed to "close communications between the two countries on each diplomatic level to resolve issues of concern". 

Macron weighed on the Russia-Ukraine war. 

Watch this report: 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks late Saturday with China's top diplomat Wang Yi. The meeting comes amid a spat between Washington and Beijing over a Chinese balloon incident which was shot down by the US over spying suspicion. 

A State Department spokesperson said that the meeting took place at an undisclosed location away from the media glare on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, at which both were in attendance. 

This is the third day of Munich Security Conference, the annual conference which was opened on Friday and the focus remained on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, with United States Vice President Kamala Harris accusing Moscow of committing "crimes against humanity" in Ukraine during the ongoing invasion. This is the first time that the US has designated Russia's actions as such. 

On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that the time was not right for dialogue with Russia as Moscow is intensifying its attacks against Ukraine. 

Click Here to get all the details from Day 1. 

Click Here to get all the details from Day 2.