STORY: Blinken postponed a planned visit to China that had been expected to start on Friday after the balloon was tracked flying across the United States.

"The PRC's (People's Republic of China) decision to take this decision on the eve of my planned visit is detrimental to the substantive discussions that we were prepared to have," Blinken said.

The Pentagon said on Thursday it was tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon over the continental United States. Officials said military leaders considered shooting it down over Montana on Wednesday but eventually recommended against this to President Joe Biden because of the safety risk from debris.