Blinken trip to China postponed

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed a visit to China that had been expected to start yesterday after a Chinese spy balloon was tracked flying across the country, a US official said.

ABC News cited an US official as saying Blinken did not want to blow the situation out of proportion by cancelling his visit, but also did not want the balloon incident to dominate his meetings with Chinese officials.

China earlier expressed regret that what it called a "civilian" airship had strayed into US territory after being blown off course, an incident that sparked a political furor in the US.

Pentagon said that the government was tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon over the continental US, and said it does not present "a military or physical threat to people on the ground."