BEIJING, June 18. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Beijing Sunday morning, Chinese media reported.

According to the report, Blinken’s visit will last for two days; this is the first visit by a US Secretary of State since October, 2018. Blinken is expected to meet with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang shortly.

Blinken’s visit was initially planned to take place in February. Back then, the visit was disrupted by the incident with a Chinese balloon that was downed by a US missile inside the US airspace. Beijing claims that this balloon was a meteorological blimp, but the US Administration claims that the aircraft was used to "collect sensitive information.".