President Trump and a delegation of U.S. officials left Beijing on Friday after two days of high-level talks with the Chinese government led by President Xi Jinping.
Before boarding Air Force One, White House staff and reporters had to hand over various items they had collected during their trip, including staff burner phones, badges and Chinese-issued lapel pins. Passengers on board Air Force One threw the objects into trash cans at the bottom of the plane's stairs, according to journalists at the White House press corps.
“No items from China are allowed on board,” Emily Goodin, White House correspondent for the New York Post, wrote in a post on X.
Photos from the trip show several members of the U.S. government delegation, including Trump, White House communications director Stephen Chan, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Secret Service agents, wearing pins on their coat lapels.
Traveling to China on Air Force One for the summit? Want to know more about the order of discards? You can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely from your non-work device on Signal (+1 917 257 1382), on Telegram and Keybase @lorenzofb, or by email.
Goodin did not explain why officials and reporters had to throw away the items, although it was likely for safety reasons. Although the summit appeared to be amicable, China remains a major adversary of the United States, given its advanced intelligence and espionage capabilities. The United States and its allies have long accused China of spying and conducting cyberattacks.
It's not far-fetched to think that some gift items could be intercepted, as the government has done before. It's also reasonable to think that your burner phone likely became a target while you were traveling. Burner phones are designed as new, specialized devices that are used in areas where attacks are expected and then disposed of.
A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.