US officials didn't have big expectations that there would be major announcements coming on this meeting. They did see this as an important opportunity to keep channels of communication at the very top levels open. The exact type of episode that they feared would happen and lead to a breaking communications between two countries is what happened in the case of the spy balloon. It does seem like this was an ongo by China sabotaging of something they really wanted by parts of their own system.
On Wednesday, residents in Montana saw a mysterious object — a balloon — hovering and bobbing around in the skies. The enigma brought Americans out to squint at the heavens, caused a diplomatic visit to be canceled and opened a political debate.
How did a balloon end up kindling such tension between Washington and Beijing?
Guest: Edward Wong, a diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times.
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