After years of deepening distrust and simmering tensions, ties between the US and China appeared poised for a modest rebound following the assembly of the 2 nations’ leaders at a summit final November and up to date efforts by Beijing to stabilize its relations with the world. A go to by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to Beijing this weekend was anticipated to construct on that progress.

All it took was a balloon to upend every thing.

The invention of what American army officers referred to as a “high-altitude surveillance balloon” over Montana this week, and Mr. Blinken’s choice Friday to cancel his journey, has once more uncovered the fragility of a relationship between two powers locked in an more and more tense rivalry for army, geopolitical and technological dominance.

The revelation of the balloon’s location has fueled bipartisan outrage in the US, together with calls to shoot it down, and has given the Biden administration little room to maneuver — at the same time as China uncharacteristically expressed remorse for the vessel’s look.

The 2 nations have issued competing claims in regards to the nature of the airship. The Pentagon mentioned it was used for “intelligence-gathering,” whereas China mentioned it was a civilian vessel used for scientific analysis and that it had strayed astray.

Wang Yi, the highest official in China’s international coverage hierarchy, informed Mr. Blinken in a cellphone name late on Friday that “China is a accountable nation and has all the time strictly abided by worldwide legislation,” the Chinese language international ministry mentioned on its web site.

The temporary abstract of their name didn’t point out the balloon or Mr. Blinken’s cancellation of his journey, however urged China’s leaders believed the Biden administration had blown the incident out of proportion.

Whereas there was no indication the balloon poses a critical army or intelligence risk to the US, the symbolism of a Chinese language craft drifting over the continental United States has added a brand new component of volatility to a relationship that’s on the core of the world’s most urgent challenges, equivalent to sustaining peace within the Taiwan Strait, rebuilding post-pandemic economies and combating local weather change.

“It’s slightly motion with a giant consequence,” Rorry Daniels, managing director of the Asia Society Coverage Institute in New York, mentioned of the balloon. “It’s form of thoughts blowing once you have a look at the historical past of U.S.-China relations and all of the completely different phases the connection has been by means of to finish up right here.”

Shrinking ranges of contact between the 2 governments in recent times has made it harder for them to check assumptions about one another’s intentions throughout diplomatic crises, she added.

Within the months earlier than the balloon incident, China’s diplomatic corps had toned down its sometimes acerbic rhetoric about Washington. One spotlight was an attraction from the incoming Chinese language international minister, Qin Gang, to construct “mutual understanding and affinity between the 2 peoples” in remarks he made final month upon leaving his submit as ambassador to the US.

China has been seeking to scale back tensions abroad to focus its vitality on repairing its beleaguered financial system and transition out of Covid-induced isolation. Liu He, the nation’s vice premier, attended the World Financial Discussion board annual assembly in Davos, Switzerland, final month, to woo international funding and declare that China was open for enterprise once more.

How an obvious Chinese language spy balloon ended up over the US amid such a backdrop hints at divisions inside the Chinese language authorities about its technique towards its chief geopolitical competitor, analysts say.

“The general route of China’s latest diplomatic messaging to the US has been to hunt to decrease tensions,” mentioned Ryan Hass, a senior fellow on the Brookings Establishment and a former Nationwide Safety Council director for China.

“The spy balloon incident is discordant with the general messaging,” he added. “This raises questions in regards to the high quality of coordination inside China’s safety system.”

Mr. Hass mentioned China’s chief, Xi Jinping, can sick afford to let Sino-U.S. relations bitter even additional. Managing these ties is amongst Mr. Xi’s chief obligations within the eyes of the nation’s elite. Beneath his watch, Washington has crippled main Chinese language telecommunications corporations like Huawei, imposed sweeping export bans on vital semiconductor know-how and fortified army relationships throughout Asia, most lately with information this week in regards to the growth of American entry to army bases within the Philippines.

“Secretary Blinken’s very seen postponement of his go to might generate questions internally about Xi’s capability to handle tensions with the US,” Mr. Hass mentioned. “This concern already has been a gentle spot in Xi’s general résumé after a decade of traditionally strained relations with the US beneath his management.”

Tensions might escalate this yr. There’s already a brand new choose committee within the Home of Representatives to research the strategic challenges posed by China. And if the brand new Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy, makes good on plans to go to Taiwan, that might stoke the identical tensions that prompted China to reply with a close to army blockade when the previous Home speaker, Nancy Pelosi traveled to the self-governing island final yr.

Nonetheless, China’s response on Friday to the balloon revelation underscored the nation’s extra measured tone since final yr. The confrontational tack of the previous, often known as “Wolf Warrior” diplomacy, so named after a jingoistic Chinese language movie, wouldn’t have expressed something near remorse for the balloon. As an alternative, Beijing’s admission that the vessel was Chinese language, and its pledge to proceed speaking with the US, suggests a need to press forward Mr. Blinken’s go to.

“It’s worthy of recognition that China acknowledged the balloon,” mentioned Shen Dingli, a Shanghai-based worldwide relations scholar who focuses on U.S.-China ties.

Different consultants provided one other evaluation: China might have meant for the airship to be found to regain the initiative and gauge Washington’s resolve when examined by Beijing. The balloon’s presence sends a message that China has the capabilities to spy over the American heartland in the way in which many Chinese language presume the US is doing over China, or a minimum of on its periphery with spy planes, satellites and naval patrols.

“China needs to indicate it isn’t inferior to the U.S., that it’s working from a place of energy,” mentioned Benjamin Ho, coordinator of the China program on the S. Rajaratnam Faculty of Worldwide Research in Singapore. “China is demonstrating to the U.S. that, ‘We are able to do to you what you’ve been doing to us for a very long time.’”

Mr. Ho mentioned information of the balloon’s flight would assist Mr. Xi win factors domestically with nationalists. One other view in China blames a rising tide of hawkish attitudes in the US for an overreaction to the vessel.

“It might have been a very good probability for China and the U.S. to heat relations, however this incident overshadowed it,” mentioned Zhao Minghao, a professor on the Institute of Worldwide Research at Fudan College. “We are able to see the brand new Congress is sharpening its knife and honing its sword for China.”

Olivia Wang contributed analysis and Chris Buckley contributed reporting.