WASHINGTON — China rebuffed a U.S. effort to arrange a phone call between the two countries’ top defense officials after the United States shot down an alleged spy balloon, a Pentagon spokesman said, in a stark new sign of how the uproar over the balloon has sent ties between the adversaries to a new low.
The department asked for a call between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe right after the balloon was shot down on Saturday. “Unfortunately the PRC has declined our request,” Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement, referring to China by its formal name, the People’s Republic of China.
“We believe in the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between the United States and the PRC in order to responsibly manage the relationship,” Ryder said. “Lines between our militaries are particularly important in moments like this.”
