Pentagon's Top China Official To Visit Taiwan Soon Following Balloon Incident - Reports

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th February, 2023) US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for China Michael Chase will travel to Taiwan in the first such visit since 2019 amid the rift in relations between Washington and Beijing following the downing of a suspected spy balloon off the coast of the United States, the Financial Times reported.

The senior official, who is currently in Mongolia for discussions with the country's military, is expected to embark on the trip in the coming days, the report said on Thursday.

In early February, the United States detected and later shot down four unidentified flying objects, including the alleged Chinese surveillance balloon.

Washington alleges that the balloon was designed to gather intelligence.

However, Beijing insists that the balloon was a meteorological device that entered US airspace accidentally, while expressing protest over Washington's decision to shoot it down.

On Monday, Bloomberg reported that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is considering meeting with China's Central Foreign Affairs Office Director Wang Yi on the margins of the upcoming Munich Security Conference this week. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman refused to confirm the report.