Wang, Blinken Speak, Second 'balloon' Reported

Beijing has revealed that senior diplomat Wang Yi has spoken by telephone to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken about the entry of a Chinese unmanned airship into US airspace.

News of the call emerged as the Pentagon claimed a second craft had been spotted over Latin America.

On Friday, Beijing described the "balloon" identified by US authorities as a "civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes" that had been blown off its planned course.

Xinhua reported on Saturday that Wang, Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission, had spoken on the phone with Blinken and that "the two communicated with each other on how to deal with a chance occurrence in a calm and professional manner."

It added that Wang stressed "China always strictly abides by international law and will not accept any groundless speculation or hype."

The Pentagon said it believed a craft sighted over an unspecified location in Latin America is also of Chinese origin.

Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said: "We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America. We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon."

The call between Wang and Blinken came after the latter postponed a planned trip to China due to the incident. (Agencies)