“Nothing from China allowed on the plane.” That was the message US staff enforced as Trump’s delegation departed Beijing on Friday, collecting and binning all Chinese-issued materials, from press passes to burner phones, at the bottom of the aircraft stairs.
All materials handed out by Chinese officials during President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing were discarded by US staff and travelling press before they boarded Air Force One on Friday.
Everything Goes In The Bin
Emily Goodin, White House Correspondent for the New York Post, described the scene on X. “American staff took everything Chinese officials handed out – credentials, burner phones from WH staff, pins for delegation – collected them before we got on AF1 and threw them in a bin at bottom at stairs. Nothing from China allowed on the plane,” she wrote.
The White House press pool confirmed the account, adding that items collected and discarded included press credentials, burner phones issued to White House staff, and delegation pins.
While Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping kept up a cordial front on camera, relations between American and Chinese press and security teams were far more strained behind the scenes during the high-stakes summit. Takeaways from Trump Xi meet
Secret Service Agent Blocked At Temple
At one point during Trump’s meeting with Xi at Beijing’s Temple of Heaven, a US Secret Service agent accompanying the press pool was prevented from entering the site because he was carrying a firearm, standard practice under American presidential security protocol.
Tensions also flared at the time of departure. Chinese officials initially barred the press pool from joining the presidential motorcade. US aides travelling with the press eventually pushed through security to get reporters through, US news outlet The Hill reported citing reporters present there.
Not The First Time
This is not the first time friction of this kind has surfaced during a US presidential visit to China. When former President Barack Obama travelled to Hangzhou in 2016 for the G20 Summit, US and Chinese staff exchanged heated words over how many Americans would be permitted to accompany Obama into his meeting with Xi, according to a report by The New York Times.