Blinken stressed that the US wanted to keep the channels of communication open with Beijing and that the visit should go ahead without delay "when conditions permit."
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman reiterated that the balloon over the US had been used "for meteorological and other scientific research."
"Due to the west wind drift and because of limited steering capabilities, the airship went far off the planned route."
The Pentagon did not accept the claim however. "We know it's a surveillance balloon," Ryder said.
The Department of Defence had made public the sighting of the first balloon on Thursday evening. The balloon was spotted over Montana, where 150 intercontinental ballistic missiles armed with nuclear warheads are stored at a military base in the north, according to a report.
