But keeping a jet aircraft from another nation is totally ok... got it :)

One of the most sensible things I’ve seen from the administration.

Kinda surprised Trump was OK with it tbh…

Sounds like the US use gifts, pins and burner phones to spy on foreign governments

The Chinese probably gave them normal gifts, pins, and phones because why waste money on tech when top secret files are stored in the bathroom and POTUS tweets sensitive information?

I assume China (or any other government) can get top secret intel by simply bribing Trump and asking him.

Uh duh? Pretty normal procedure when visiting foreign governments.

However the problem isn't the support staff, it's the moron leaders that are the problem. I bet 100 bucks that Trump kept at least a gift that contains a spy equipment.

Trump probably thinks he’s above the rules, so of course he’d want to keep the solid gold microphone Xi gave him with the plaque that says “The Greatest Speeches Ever.”

He probably thinks it would look great on his desk.

Throw away air force one and the president while you are at it.

I have $20 that says Drumpf keeps some tacky piece of shit with a bug in it

Pretty sure this is SOP. At least, it was before these idiots took over.

Not sure why this is news, unless this didn’t occur to these morons before now and they think it’s a Very Good, Big Brain Idea™ that was obvious to literally everyone else.

Yah... Duh... Thats how espionage works...

China would tell their diplomats to do the same returning from the US.

Throw Away = give them all to Trump

No shit? Them and every other country with resources does the same. They even send vendors and HUMINT collectors to all sorts of conferences all year round trying to pass off devices and keep tabs on trends. Collecting in their home country is just expected. The weak links are the idiots that don’t take it seriously, sneak a personal device on a trip that they lose sight of at any point or even just become too close in proximity to a collector and then carry it back home with an exploited device and credentials.

I know people are reacting like its expected anyway because of the amount of espionage that goes on, but this is honestly more of a cold war era tactic.

Why would China risk souring relations right after a major diplomatic trip with some throw away gadgets that any competent military security would find immediately and proceed to document it?

China can just get that high level information via a million other ways including Trump himself. They probably have a truthsocial scrapper that automatically tells them exactly what Trump is gonna do next by deciphering his insane posts lol.

For trump China does not need any secret spying devices. They know his motivation. They just need to flash their bankroll.

Ironic . . as I use a burner phone when traveling to the USA.

Shit like this used to happen informally, and quietly. Now it's splashed all over the internet, only because someone wanted it to be.

Why throw them away?

Good counterintelligence would be to get as many as possible and reverse engineer them.

Seems a bit extreme. Its not like they were vising israel