China said on Friday that it is investigating reports that indicate this a Chinese spy balloon has crossed into US airspacehe asked for calm and added that “he has no intention of violating the territory and airspace of any sovereign country”.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning also said she did not know whether US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to the country this month would go ahead as planned.

In a daily press conference, Mao said both politicians and the public should refrain from making judgments “until we have a clear understanding of the facts” in the spy balloon reports.

Blinken would be the highest-ranking member of President Joe Biden’s administration to visit China. The trip will coincide with efforts to mitigate sharply deteriorating relations between Beijing and Washington over trade, Taiwan, human rights and Chinese land claims in the South China Sea.

China is a responsible country and has always strictly complied with international law, and China has no intention of violating the territory and airspace of any sovereign country. As for the ball, as I just said, we are investigating and verifying the situation and hope that both sides can handle it together calmly and carefully” Mao said.

“Regarding Blinken’s visit to China, I have no information,” he added.

The US and Canada were watching, meanwhile, at least this Friday a Chinese spy balloon that has been flying over its territory and sensitive military sites for several dayswhich revived tensions between Washington and Beijing a few days after a visit by the head of US diplomacy to China.

The Pentagon announced the presence of the device in US airspace on Thursday, and the Canadian government said it was investigating a “potential second incident”.

China said it was verifying the information but urged not to “guess” or “exaggerate the matter” “until the facts are clear.”

At the request of President Joe Biden, the Department of Defense considered shooting down the plane, but decided against it because of the potential risks to people on the ground, a senior US defense official said Thursday , on condition of anonymity.

“Clearly the intent of this balloon is surveillance and its current flight path takes it over a number of sensitive sites,” the official said.

The balloon flew over the northwestern United States, where there are sensitive air bases and strategic nuclear missile silos in underground silos, but the Pentagon does not believe this device poses much of a threat because it “has limited additive value from a data collection perspective.” . “.

A senior defense official told reporters at the Pentagon that the United States was “very confident” that it was a high-flying Chinese balloon and was flying over sensitive locations to gather intelligence. One of the sighting sites was in Montana, which is home to one of the country’s three nuclear missile silo fields, at Malmstrom Air Force Base.

With information from agencies