US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that incidents like the one with the balloon shot down by the US Air Force “should never happen again”, in a rare meeting in Munich yesterday. on the sidelines of the Security Conference.

In an interview he gave to the American television network NBC, Blinken himself said that Wang Yi did not apologize for the balloon incident. The US minister also said the US response was “not over the top” and insisted there was “no doubt” the Chinese balloon was a spy.

According to a State Department spokesman, the US top diplomat also warned China’s top diplomat of the “consequences” Beijing would face if it was found to be providing “material support” to Russia in its war with Ukraine.

Blinken told NBC that the US has intelligence that China may be providing lethal military aid to Russia, including weapons, and that this is their main concern.

According to the US Secretary of State, the meeting with Wang Yi did not reschedule his planned trip to China, which was postponed due to the balloon incident. But he repeated the statements made by US President Joe Biden that he intends to speak with his Chinese counterpart in the future.

The meeting lasted about an hour, during which the two ministers had a “frank exchange of views” on Taiwan, with Blinken stressing the importance of preserving peace and stability in the region.