A balloon upended Blinken’s trip to China. That could be a good thing.

Phelim Kine and Nahal Toosi

Fri, February 3, 2023 at 7:02 PM EST·5 min read

In this article:

Antony BlinkenAmerican government official and 71th U.S. Secretary of State
Xi JinpingGeneral Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party

A balloon upended Blinken’s trip to China. That could be a good thing.

Not everyone in Washington is freaking out about the suspected Chinese spy balloon flying high over the United States. Some former officials say it’s giving U.S. diplomats exactly what they need: more leverage over Beijing.

The Chinese airship forced the U.S. military to scramble fighter jets, prompted lawmakers to demand answers from the Biden administration and led Secretary of State Antony Blinken to indefinitely postpone his trip to Beijing this weekend.