I assume China (or any other government) can get top secret intel by simply bribing Trump and asking him.
this post was submitted on 15 May 2026
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Sounds like the US use gifts, pins and burner phones to spy on foreign governments
My brother-in-law traveled a lot for work, from the early nineties, to the 20-teens.
He visited, China, Russia, the U.S., India, all over Southeast Asia, Australia. Maybe South America, but not sure. Anyway, the point is he visited a lot of places, and the big ones fairly routinely. China is the only country, where his company had a whole list of requirements. He had to leave his personal phone, any personal electronics, and his work laptop at home. (They provided him a phone and laptop that would immediately be turned over once he returned and he could NOT log onto the company VPN with the laptop/phone they gave him and had to have his work email forwarded. )
They gave him money to buy a new suit before he went over there and to replace his luggage and clothes when he came back, because it was all discarded.
He said it was not so much government spying but industrial espionage. And he just worked in human resources.
I was in the Navy and visited Hong Kong a couple of times and they never said boo to me outside of the usual, "Loose lips sink ships." spiel we got at every port.
They let him take his phone to Russia, but they did made him take a different work laptop, but that laptop could access the company VPN. He said there is was more about the government spying. I did not visit any Russian port while in the Navy.
I mean, there is a history of a lot of nations doing this.
had to surrender various items collected during the trip, including staff burner phones, credential badges, and lapel pins issued by China.
They think the Chinese are doing that.
Because that's what they do...
That's what everyone does.
Example gift from Russia, completely passive listening device: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device)
But keeping a jet aircraft from another nation is totally ok... got it :)
I can assure you FBI scanned it for secret cameras.
The FBI missed a passive bug that hung in the office of the US ambassador to Russia for 7 years.
Don't count them out yet
Fascinating stuff: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device)
Don’t threaten me with a good time.
I feel like it is entirely plausible to miss something when scanning, I believe it is extremely plausible to miss something when scanning an entire jet aircraft, regardless of the skills of the personnel involved.
I mean "The Thing" wasn't detected for seven years. It's always possible to miss a listening device.
I wasn't sure if this was going to be a radio interference post, or John Carpenter
I feel like I had to have heard of this device before, but that article was a fascinating read - thank you!
I think people still think of China as a second tier sometimes, but from what I have seen their technology is likely at least equal to ours, and I would imagine the West and China both surpass each other in different technological categories.
Lol China is far superior to our tech. They get to manufacture everything we design. Then get to ponder on improvements. Not to mention their "students" in all our universities.
Links broken or page is broken
I think your client or instance is broken. Link without markdown:
Interesting. No idea what markdown means. Thanks.
By "the FBI scanned", they probably mean "We told Kash Patel that there was a six pack of Miller hidden somewhere in the plane and let him have at it."
Right? I was like "Faith in the FBI? Someone didn't watch the Mens Hockey gold medal match..."
…and secret whiskey stashes…
👀
One of the most sensible things I’ve seen from the administration.
Kinda surprised Trump was OK with it tbh…
Oh you know he didnt have to throw his special gifts away..,
Right? I was gonna say, there is no way he isn't keeping is 44k gold plated listening device.
Did China gift him kids?
China called him out by having a bunch of little kids cheering, the kids were the only group he stopped to be creepy at.
FR?
I love/hate that we even have to ask.
If they don't want it on the plane, you can always just post it home.
Probably had to tie him down cause he thought that they loved him so much.
I didn't think they had anyone with half a brain still working there
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.
It was the same with the last UK visit
Throw Away = give them all to Trump
Cavity checks all around boys
Yah... Duh... Thats how espionage works...
China would tell their diplomats to do the same returning from the US.