Top US Diplomat Cancels China Trip Amid "Spy" Balloon Fallout

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Politics, Daily News, News

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2023

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelled his trip to China after the U.S. spotted a Chinese surveillance balloon near a military base in Montana. The Air Force popped the balloon off the coast of South Carolina over the weekend. Blinken's meeting with President Xi Jinping would have been first high-level visit to the country by a U.S. official in more than five years.

This episode: White House correspondent Tamara Keith, China correspondent Emily Feng, and congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh.

This episode was produced by Elena Moore and Casey Morell. It was edited by Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi. Research and fact-checking by Devin Speak.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Rusella.
0:02.0	And Graham, we're from Port and Oregon.
0:04.0	And we're currently standing in front of the United States Capitol Building, and it's a beautiful day in Washington, D.C.
0:10.0	This podcast was recorded at 10.13 a.m. on Monday, February 6th.
0:16.0	Things may have changed by the time you hear it.
0:18.0	Okay, enjoy the show!
0:23.0	Well, if you guys recorded that time stamp on Sunday, it was beautiful at the Capitol yesterday.
0:29.0	Beautiful day.
0:31.0	Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast.
0:33.0	I'm Tamer Keith. I cover the White House.
0:35.0	I'm dear Dr. Walsh, I cover Congress.
0:37.0	And NPR's Emily Fang is with us from Taiwan. She covers China. Hey, Emily.
0:41.0	Hey, damn.
0:42.0	So, after a week of hovering over the United States and Canada, the suspected Chinese spy balloon
0:49.0	floated out over the Atlantic just off the coast of South Carolina,
0:53.0	and then the US Air Force took it out.
0:55.0	President Biden addressed it from under the wing of Air Force One on Saturday.
0:59.0	I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down on Wednesday as soon as possible.
1:03.0	They decided without doing damage to anyone on the ground.
1:07.0	They decided that the best time to do that was to the God over water outside of it within our, within 12 mile limit.
1:15.0	It successfully took it down, and I want to compliment our A-baders who did it.
1:21.0	US investigators are now working to uncover evidence of what they are saying with confidence was a surveillance balloon
	...

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