In the hope of reducing tensions between the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.) and the United States, the U.S. Department of State has announced the possibility of an encounter between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi. Chinese and American diplomatic delegations were supposed to meet earlier this month in Beijing, but the meeting was cancelled after the U.S. shot down what it referred to as a Chinese “spy balloon,” which it discovered flying over its territory. (China, for its part, has claimed that the balloon was a simple civilian research project that unfortunately lost its course.) Two upcoming events could conceivably be opportunities for the United States and P.R.C. to fulfill this diplomatic mission: a Munich security conference this week and the G20 meeting in India planned for March. However, the United States has thus far avoided specifying when or how the promised meeting will occur.

The State Department will “have an opportunity to speak to Secretary Blinken’s potential travel,” Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Wendy Sherman announced during a meeting with Japanese and South Korean delegations, “but I can tell you at the moment there’s no meeting on the books between Secretary Blinken and a senior P.R.C. official.” Although the lack of a firmly scheduled meeting could be disenheartening, the State Department says that Washington is “always assessing options for diplomacy.”

The United States has claimed that the purported “spy balloon,” which was struck down on the coast of South Carolina, violated its sovereignty and airspace. Chinese authorities, meanwhile, said the American government’s response was both hypocritical and an overreaction, alleging that the U.S. has sent multiple spy balloons to China since 2022.

The White House has rejected these accusations, and, in the last weekend, has shot down another four flying objects. Neither country has given notice of the promised diplomatic meeting since then.

Tensions between Washington and Beijing haven’t been this high in decades. It has never been so necessary to deal with our differences peacefully rather than through impulsive action – especially when the parties involved are competing world powers. This is why the constant pursuit of diplomatic talks is praiseworthy. Even if every government has different objectives and values, each can recognize the value of peace. Hopefully when the P.R.C. and the United States have their belated diplomatic meeting, the alleged Chinese “spying” can be clarified and relations can be restored.