WASHINGTON — American navy officers on Thursday mentioned they’d detected a “high-altitude surveillance balloon” launched by China floating within the skies of Montana, inflicting a diplomatic panic that led Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to postpone a deliberate journey to Beijing.

On Friday, Chinese language officers declared that the floating orb was a “primarily meteorological” balloon that had floated into American airspace, and launched the phrase power majeure — an motion attributable to forces past a celebration’s management — into the dialog.

The event comes months after President Biden and President Xi Jinping of China met in a high-stakes summit in Bali to publicly declare that neither needed the fierce competitors between their two superpowers to erupt into battle.

Here’s what we all know in regards to the balloon.

What occurred and when?

NBC Information reported on Thursday afternoon that navy officers had been monitoring for a number of days what they’d decided to be a Chinese language-made spy balloon floating over Montana. The Pentagon held a information briefing hours later.

Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, mentioned the US “continues to trace and monitor it intently.”

China’s international ministry issued a press release that confirmed the balloon’s origin, however disputed its alleged objective.

“It’s a civilian airship used for analysis, primarily meteorological, functions,” mentioned the assertion on the ministry’s web site. “Affected by the Westerlies and with restricted self-steering functionality, the airship deviated removed from its deliberate course. The Chinese language facet regrets the unintended entry of the airship into U.S. airspace because of power majeure.”

In a briefing with reporters aboard Air Power One when the president was en path to Philadelphia, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White Home press secretary, mentioned that Mr. Biden had been briefed in regards to the balloon on Tuesday. She mentioned the balloon didn’t current a navy risk however known as its presence a “violation of our sovereignty.”

Is that this a giant deal or not?

It’s a large enough deal for the State Division to cancel Mr. Blinken’s deliberate journey with out rescheduling it, and for the president to debate the scenario along with his navy advisers.

A senior protection official informed reporters on Thursday that comparable balloons had been noticed earlier than, together with in earlier presidential administrations. The official additionally mentioned that Mr. Biden had been briefed and had requested to overview navy choices.

The episode illustrated how excessive the tensions are — and the way a lot mistrust stays — between Washington and Beijing.

On Friday, Mr. Blinken, who would have been the primary American secretary of state to go to China in six years, informed China’s international minister, Wang Yi, that the balloon’s course was a violation of sovereignty and “unacceptable.”

Some consultants have questioned the choice to not ship Mr. Blinken.

“We’ve received an necessary however problematic relationship which might worsen,” mentioned Richard N. Haass, the president of the Council on Overseas Relations. “The principle objective of the journey was to place some guardrails on the connection. To me, this highlights the necessity for that greater than ever.”

Why not shoot the balloon down?

Mr. Biden’s prime generals beneficial that he not use navy power to shoot down the balloon as a result of the particles might hurt individuals on the bottom.

Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy and different Republicans have known as for Mr. Biden to subject an aggressive response.

“China’s brazen disregard for U.S. sovereignty is a destabilizing motion that should be addressed, and President Biden can’t be silent,” Mr. McCarthy mentioned on Twitter. Others known as for extra forceful motion.

“SHOOT DOWN THE BALLOON,” former President Donald J. Trump wrote on his web site on Friday morning.

How huge is the balloon?

Officers wouldn’t say how massive the balloon was, however the navy despatched a number of F-22 fighter jets into the skies of Montana to get an estimate: It’s “sizable,” in keeping with the protection official.

On Thursday, ABC Information reported that an official had described the balloon because the dimension of three buses.

The place is the balloon?

On Friday, the balloon remained within the sky, above the “middle of the continental United States,” Normal Ryder informed reporters, however he mentioned that the general public wouldn’t be always up to date on the sphere’s whereabouts.

“What we’re not going to do is get into an hour-by-hour location of the balloon,” he added. “The general public has the power to lookup within the sky and see the place the balloon is.”