Many of the items handed out by Chinese officials to the American delegation were rounded up and dumped before they left the country on Air Force One.
US President Donald Trump is set to leave China after wrapping up critical talks with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on Friday.
Despite the apparent warm state visit, big differences remain between the world’s two biggest powers on key geopolitical issues like China and Iran. It comes after a mystery blonde joined Trump on his trip to China after Melania’s anguish.
Reports from the ground have revealed that before boarding Air Force One, staff from the American delegation took everything handed out by Chinese officials to the press pool and binned them.
According to New York Post’s Emily Goodin, this included “credentials, burner phones from WH staff, pins for delegation.”
She wrote on X: “Nothing from China allowed on the plane. We’re taking off shortly for America.”
The two-day visti saw Xi welcom Trump at his official residence, Zhongnanhai, for their final engagement of the summit before the US leader’s return to Washington.
The leaders took a short walk through the grounds that feature ancient trees and Chinese roses, and strolled through a covered passageway with green columns and archways painted with birds and traditional Chinese mountain scenes.
Over tea and lunch, Trump and Xi – with top aides and translators in tow – huddled for nearly three hours of talks before the US leader completed his three-day visit to China.
“It’s been really a great couple of days,” Trump told reporters.
Beijing has shown little public interest in US entreaties to get more involved in solving the conflict in Iran, even though Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that Xi had, in their conversations, offered to help.
Xi, meanwhile, warned Trump during private talks that their differences on the self-ruled island of Taiwan, if handled poorly, could hurtle the world’s dominant powers toward “clashes and even conflicts,” according to Chinese government officials.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC News that U.S. policy toward Taiwan was “unchanged” and cautioned that it would be “a terrible mistake” for China to try to take Taiwan by force. He also framed Xi’s comments as standard practice.
“They always raise it on their side. We always make clear our position, and we move on to the other topics,” said Rubio, who was among senior aides to join Trump for the talks.
It comes after angry Trump told a reporter ‘you should be ashamed of yourself’ after an ‘act of treason’.