William Burns, director of the US intelligence agency CIA, made a secret visit to China last month. Report that The Financial Times and international news agencies Friday based on US government sources. The purpose of the visit is said to have been to stabilize crumbling relations with China.
During the visit, Burns “emphasized the importance of open lines of communication in intelligence channels,” writes The Financial Times. In particular, the spy balloon that hovered in US airspace at the beginning of February is said to have cooled Sino-US relations. Burns is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit China since then.
It’s not Burns’ first secret visit: reported in February The Washington Post that the CIA chief spoke secretly in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and earlier this week, according to local media, he was said to have been quietly in Greece. FT writes that Burns also traveled to Moscow in 2021, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to argue against an invasion.
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