China on suspected Montana surveillance balloon

China says it’s “looking into and verifying the situation” after U.S. officials said a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon was spotted over U.S. airspace Thursday. Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mao Ning said at a daily briefing on Friday that the government is still verifying reports of the situation.

The incident comes as Secretary of State Antony Blinken was supposed to make his first trip to Beijing, expected this weekend, to try to find some common ground. Although the trip has not been formally announced, both Beijing and Washington have been talking about his imminent arrival. It was not immediately clear if the discovery of the balloon would impact Blinken’s travel plans.