WASHINGTON (AP) – Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed a planned high-stakes weekend diplomatic trip to China.

This comes as the Biden administration weighs a broader response to the discovery of a high-altitude Chinese balloon flying over sensitive sites in the western United States. The abrupt decision on Friday, just hours before Blinken was to depart for Beijing, comes despite China’s claim that the balloon was a weather research satellite that had blown off course.

The U.S. has described it as a surveillance satellite.