Munich | US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned China’s top diplomat against providing lethal aid to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rebuked him over an alleged Chinese spy balloon that heightened tensions between the world’s largest economies.

Mr Blinken told Chinese state councillor Wang Yi in Munich on Saturday evening (Sunday AEDT) that the US had information China was considering whether to give Russia assistance, possibly including guns and weapons, for the Ukraine war. The US has warned China since the start of the invasion a year ago not to do so.