Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi in Munich on Saturday amid hopes to warm bilateral ties in the wake of a Chinese surveillance balloon fallout.

“The Secretary directly spoke to the unacceptable violation of U.S. sovereignty and international law by the PRC high-altitude surveillance balloon in U.S. territorial airspace, underscoring that this irresponsible act must never again occur,” the department’s spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement. “The Secretary made clear the United States will not stand for any violation of our sovereignty, and that the PRC’s high altitude surveillance balloon program—which has intruded into the air space of over 40 countries across 5 continents—has been exposed to the world.”

Noting North Korea’s destabilizing act of testing an intercontinental ballistic missile on Saturday, Blinken “emphasized the need for responsible powers to respond to such significant international challenges.” He stressed that the China policy remains unchanged and urged for “peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” as concerns mount that the Chinese regime could attack the self-governing island.

The meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference marked the first face-to-face exchange between the two sides since the surveillance balloon incident set off an uproar in the United States and forced Blinken to cancel a planned visit to Beijing.

That canceled trip would have been the first from a U.S. secretary of state to China in five years, which the administration had seen as a chance to smooth relations that already deteriorated after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan visit.

Beijing had insisted that the United States formally initiate the meeting, Politico reported, citing an anonymous Washington diplomat. Blinken made a request but received no response from China before boarding the Munich-bound flight on Thursday, according to the report.

Wang, the most senior official for China’s foreign affairs, had turned up the heat on Washington at the Munich conference, repeating the regime’s claims that the U.S. decision to have a fighter jet shoot down the balloon was “absurd, almost hysterical.” He demanded the United States “correct its mistakes” to “show sincerity.”

Hours after Wang’s comments, Blinken left his Munich hotel to an undisclosed location, ignoring a shouted question from a reporter about whether he was going to meet with Wang as he entered his vehicle at the hotel garage.

The Biden administration earlier in the month said the Chinese balloon that flew for more than a week over the U.S. airspace was part of a global surveillance program that affects more than 40 countries, including Washington’s “closest allies and partners.”

But both President Joe Biden and administration officials have stressed that they want to maintain the communication lines open and aren’t looking for conflicts.

“I expect to be speaking with President Xi, and I hope we are going to get to the bottom of this,” Biden told a Feb. 16 news conference, although he added he makes “no apologies for taking down that balloon.”

“We’ll also continue to engage with China, as we have throughout the past two weeks,” he said.

Blinken reiterated Biden’s statements at the meeting with Wang, saying that “the United States will compete and will unapologetically stand up for our values and interests, but that we do not want conflict with the PRC [People’s Republic of China] and are not looking for a new Cold War,” according to Price.

“The Secretary underscored the importance of maintaining diplomatic dialogue and open lines of communication at all times,” said Price.

The State Department directed The Epoch Times to the official statement when asked about the meeting.