Via NPR transcript of a segment today: [1]

> SIMON: This trip was supposed to happen this weekend, right?

> KELEMEN: Yeah. I mean, we were planning to fly out last night. We had our visas in hand and our bags sort of packed. So this was very last minute. Though Blinken had been raising concerns with the Chinese about this balloon since Wednesday, when pictures started appearing on social media of this thing way far up in the sky over Montana.

My interpretation is that this move was likely forced by the public furor.

[1]: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/04/1154473950/u-s-cancels-blinke...

That's the way it seems to me as well. The earlier excuse about not shooting it down over Montana because of falling debris didn't make a ton of sense. I think they didn't want to shoot it down because the threat was long ago characterized and the standard operating procedure is to ignore these balloons. But once the public started making a big deal about it, politicians respond to that.

And I agree this has been largely because of public furor. Now, something that's interesting is 'ufo' videos have been trending on tiktok for some time with lulls and resurgences in their postings. When this large object showed up and people started capturing pictures it is no surprise to me it took off on social media.

> Cancelling / postponing (whatever it will be) Blinken's visit to China does seem like a big deal.

It's all political posturing. Look into the history of if you are allowed to take a photo with a handshake or not in political photographs. It's just part of the game to ensure you still have power or relevance,