As the American delegation prepared to come home from China, they did something rather odd (although understandable). They trashed every souvenir, memento, gift or badge.
🚨 THE US DELEGATION JUST THREW EVERY CHINESE GIFT INTO A TRASH BIN AT THE FOOT OF AIR FORCE ONE. BEFORE BOARDING. IN FULL VIEW OF CAMERAS.
— 🇺🇸 Thomas A. Whitaker (@WhitakerTA_) May 15, 2026
The last time a US president's team performed a visible public discard of host-country materials on a tarmac during a major summit, it made… pic.twitter.com/LCmHqJ01DG
Wow!
NYP Reporter: Prior to boarding Air Force One to depart Beijing, the entire U.S. delegation disposed of every item provided to them by their Chinese hosts. Gifts, badges, pins, and commemorative items were all dumped into a trash bin on site. The directive was absolute, no item… pic.twitter.com/4Dpo0YRmzT
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) May 15, 2026
The Americans were told to leave their personal cell phones at home and were only permitted to use burner phones while on the trip. Those were disposed of, as well.
America is doing its best to ensure there is no spying going on.
Now imagine what China puts in products and technology they ship to the U.S. and that Americans use in their homes everyday https://t.co/C1T78gjkmY
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) May 15, 2026
America needs to bring manufacturing back.
Excellent call! We’ve had issues on White House international trips in the past. The Trump administration handled it expertly! https://t.co/beek8JD7er
— Buzz Patterson (@BuzzPatterson) May 15, 2026
Good on them for being forward thinking.
Wise. This is cybersecurity done right. https://t.co/fPxDdldjt9
— Harold__Finch (@HaroldWren22) May 15, 2026
I do hope the binning of the tchotchkes was intentionally paraded right in front of the CCP delegation. https://t.co/yyByDggeeA
— Sacred Cow Shipyards (@SCShipyards) May 15, 2026
Hopefully, they had to stand and watch. That would be hilarious.
Sounds like a good idea https://t.co/WKguMyIXyr
— Northern Barbarian (@xnoesbueno) May 15, 2026
Safety comes first.... always. https://t.co/kL9faLXY0N
— AvaArmstrong,🇺🇸 Author (@MsAvaArmstrong) May 15, 2026
Grok says true !!!
— Jim Weed (@JimBobW49) May 15, 2026
The visible on-site disposal made this instance particularly notable. Reports from Fox News, NDTV, News18, and others align with the NYP pool reporter’s firsthand account.
It’s a striking illustration of the deep trust deficit in U.S.-China relations, even… https://t.co/L3wGDyzKXd
Several news agencies reported it happening, so safe to say, it's true.
its was known back to at least 2008 that China was able to get into any Blackberry as soon as the plane touched down. So govt officials were told not to take them. All but one listened...and that one was HIlliary Clinton who took her US Govt issued Blackberry to China and…
— ScottG. 🇺🇸 (@2scottsherG) May 15, 2026
would’ve been more useful to quarantine devices on return, feed them spoofed data/honeypot info, and track where it ends up. Same with the burner phones and plant misleading intel and watch what gets scraped and by whom
— Jer (@agencyjx) May 15, 2026
That would have been very interesting.
But yet 500K Chinese students in our colleges is fine along with all the American farm land they purchase.
— Maggiesmom (@maggiemooch) May 15, 2026
That's why Florida buckled down on China buying farmland.
I get it; but honestly was this necessary to report? Why not leave it unsaid?
— CaptainTLB60 (@CaptainTLB60) May 15, 2026
It's interesting information for Americans to have.