NEW: Sec. Blinken tells NBCNews that his trip to Beijing marks an “important start” in stabilizing U.S. ties with China and that the countries should move on from the spy balloon incident that postponed his earlier visit.
by the military off the coast of South Carolina, had taken the necessary action at the time to protect U.S. interests and made its concerns clear to Beijing, which maintains it was an unmanned civilian airship that strayed off course.“We said what we needed to say and made clear what we needed to make clear in terms of this not happening again, and so long as it doesn’t, that chapter should be closed,” Blinken said.
“I think if you look at the actions that we’ve taken it’s hard to make that case, and in fact if you listen to our Chinese counterparts they’re saying exactly the opposite, complaining about many of the actions that we’ve taken because it’s necessary to advance our national interest.” “If we’re not engaging, it makes it that much more difficult to make sure that the competition we’re in doesn’t veer into conflict,” he said.
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