China has rejected Washington's request for a telephone call between US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Beijing counterpart General Wei Fenghe. The Pentagon has given this information. The request was made shortly after the balloon was shot down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday. It hovered over the continental US for several days after entering US airspace over Montana on 30 January.

China has acknowledged that the balloon was its own but denied that it was for surveillance purposes rather than weather monitoring and that it had lost its way. However, the US has claimed that it has enough evidence to prove that it was a surveillance balloon. Pentagon spokesman General Pat Ryder said on Tuesday that immediately after taking action to shoot down the spy balloon on Saturday, the DoD (Department of Defense) held a secure meeting between Secretary Austin and Wei Fenghe, Minister of National Defense of the PRC (People's Republic of China). The call was requested. 

That said, we believe in the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between the United States and China in order to manage the relationship responsibly. The lines between our forces are especially important at such moments. The spokesperson said that unfortunately China has rejected our request. Our commitment to keeping the lines of communication open will continue. 

The US has accused China of violating American sovereignty and international law. On the other hand, China has said that the US violated international law by shooting down its balloon and warned that it reserves its right to take appropriate action in response.