He’s arrived, and here’s a thread for discussing the visit.
Comments
Trump goes to China — 11 Comments
For the younger Neophiles:
“Nixon in China” is a 1987 opera based on the president’s trip in February 1972 which I remember. At the time, it was heralded as one of his triumphs. In hindsight, there are some caveats about hope getting mugged by reality.
Now, he is remembered only for the Watergate disaster, which broke in June that same year.
I don’t think anyone made a musical out of that national nightmare, although Woodward and Bernstein got a movie.
I hope history doesn’t repeat itself with either event.
PS Looking at the list of important people on this trip, I hope they went in more than one plane, and are not all in the same building at the same time.
Even aside from the White House Correspondents assassination attempt, there are other precedents of large-scale disasters involving important groups.
Some might have been accidental.
@AesopFan : PS Looking at the list of important people on this trip…
I just noticed and I am bowled over. This meeting could change the next 25 years for the world.
Trump is swinging for the fences.
I hope they went in more than one plane,… — AesopFan
There was an air disaster when the President of Poland flew to Russia for a meeting of top officials, in part commemorating the Katyn Forest massacre. Political tensions and even hatreds were running high, and the plane crashed on landing in Russia killing everyone on board including the President. As you can imagine, the investigation was a mess.
Plane crash, 11 in succession dead.
RFK Jr is #12 in succession
That might get people talking.
I’ve noticed the headlines here ranging from ‘Xi holds all the cards’ to ‘Trump holds all the cards’. What a bunch of BS. Both sides have plenty of important issues.
My wife and I just came back from two weeks there – 1/3 her business near HK, 1/3 sightseeing (the Li river karst formations near Guilin are spectacular), 1/3 visiting her family in Beijing.
It’s hard to assess things since life looks pretty normal from my visit pov. But Beijing is the power/money center of China – still saw lots of folks in restaurants – so I don’t think one can extrapolate to the rest of China. But things have definitely slowed down – fewer construction cranes, quieter Beijing airport, empty buildings.
I’m just glad it’s Trump there and not Kamala/Walz.
In retrospect the china opening was a scandal greater than watergate they did supply the afghans some weapons but they also armed mugabe and pol pot
They helped build up the pakistani nuclear program against india
I think all of this fits the pillsbury thesis of the hundred years war
Chi haotian an emeritus marshal of the pla has spoken on how ‘peoples war’ would be carried
I find it interesting that Xi didn’t welcome Trump’s arrival, but sent his VP instead.
I found this video of Xi’s welcome ceremony for President Trump impressive (22 minutes):
[Arrival Ceremony – 17 minutes; Xi’s welcome speech in Chinese – 3 minutes; President Trump’s response in English – 2 minutes.] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1bAdRkXhdk&t=1319s
(I meant by my previous post that Xi didn’t welcome President Trump on the tarmac when he deplaned. Xi did welcome him in this official ceremony.)
WATCH LIVE: Trump attends state banquet with China’s Xi Jinping – Live Stream
Given the fawning coverage of the whole affair by NBC news, a lot of “isn’t life in China lovely and interesting, except for that minor surveillance stuff”, with some token “tough questions” for Rubio, I suspect that just as for Obamacare, we will have to wait for the official agreements to find out just what is or is not in them. And thus the potential real impact.
Trump seems to get an extra “glow” when he is in public negotiation mode – “watch me play these suckers (including the media) for all they are worth!!” etc.
@ R2L > “isn’t life in China lovely and interesting, except for that minor surveillance stuff”
Looks like the Americans were issued a protocol for dealing with that.
Posts to his Truth Social account have been limited during the summit — and have likely been posted from Washington, DC, where several White House staff are working Beijing hours to provide logistical support from afar.
…
Administration staffers are using burner phones and burner email addresses during the two-day summit — all part of the White House’s efforts to keep information secure while ensuring the trip flows smoothly.
These devices are stripped of most basic functions and apps to serve as “clean” devices — designed to hold minimal information if breached.
…
For White House staff, personal devices were stored on Air Force One in Faraday bags, which block all signals, including GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and RFID.
The bags protect sensitive data from being hacked remotely.
Trump and his staff will get access to their devices as soon as they board the presidential plane.
Air Force One is considered American territory no matter where it’s parked, and the plane, which functions as a flying Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, has other ways of protecting data.
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.
…
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.
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For the younger Neophiles:
“Nixon in China” is a 1987 opera based on the president’s trip in February 1972 which I remember. At the time, it was heralded as one of his triumphs. In hindsight, there are some caveats about hope getting mugged by reality.
Now, he is remembered only for the Watergate disaster, which broke in June that same year.
I don’t think anyone made a musical out of that national nightmare, although Woodward and Bernstein got a movie.
https://ia600503.us.archive.org/4/items/cd_nixon-in-china_john-adams-alice-goodman-orchestra-of-st./cd_nixon-in-china_john-adams-alice-goodman-orchestra-of-st..pdf
I hope history doesn’t repeat itself with either event.
PS Looking at the list of important people on this trip, I hope they went in more than one plane, and are not all in the same building at the same time.
Even aside from the White House Correspondents assassination attempt, there are other precedents of large-scale disasters involving important groups.
Some might have been accidental.
@AesopFan : PS Looking at the list of important people on this trip…
I just noticed and I am bowled over. This meeting could change the next 25 years for the world.
Trump is swinging for the fences.
I hope they went in more than one plane,… — AesopFan
There was an air disaster when the President of Poland flew to Russia for a meeting of top officials, in part commemorating the Katyn Forest massacre. Political tensions and even hatreds were running high, and the plane crashed on landing in Russia killing everyone on board including the President. As you can imagine, the investigation was a mess.
Plane crash, 11 in succession dead.
RFK Jr is #12 in succession
That might get people talking.
I’ve noticed the headlines here ranging from ‘Xi holds all the cards’ to ‘Trump holds all the cards’. What a bunch of BS. Both sides have plenty of important issues.
My wife and I just came back from two weeks there – 1/3 her business near HK, 1/3 sightseeing (the Li river karst formations near Guilin are spectacular), 1/3 visiting her family in Beijing.
It’s hard to assess things since life looks pretty normal from my visit pov. But Beijing is the power/money center of China – still saw lots of folks in restaurants – so I don’t think one can extrapolate to the rest of China. But things have definitely slowed down – fewer construction cranes, quieter Beijing airport, empty buildings.
I’m just glad it’s Trump there and not Kamala/Walz.
In retrospect the china opening was a scandal greater than watergate they did supply the afghans some weapons but they also armed mugabe and pol pot
They helped build up the pakistani nuclear program against india
I think all of this fits the pillsbury thesis of the hundred years war
Chi haotian an emeritus marshal of the pla has spoken on how ‘peoples war’ would be carried
I find it interesting that Xi didn’t welcome Trump’s arrival, but sent his VP instead.
I found this video of Xi’s welcome ceremony for President Trump impressive (22 minutes):
[Arrival Ceremony – 17 minutes; Xi’s welcome speech in Chinese – 3 minutes; President Trump’s response in English – 2 minutes.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1bAdRkXhdk&t=1319s
(I meant by my previous post that Xi didn’t welcome President Trump on the tarmac when he deplaned. Xi did welcome him in this official ceremony.)
WATCH LIVE: Trump attends state banquet with China’s Xi Jinping – Live Stream
https://commoncts.blogspot.com/2026/05/watch-live-trump-attends-state-banquet.html
Given the fawning coverage of the whole affair by NBC news, a lot of “isn’t life in China lovely and interesting, except for that minor surveillance stuff”, with some token “tough questions” for Rubio, I suspect that just as for Obamacare, we will have to wait for the official agreements to find out just what is or is not in them. And thus the potential real impact.
Trump seems to get an extra “glow” when he is in public negotiation mode – “watch me play these suckers (including the media) for all they are worth!!” etc.
@ R2L > “isn’t life in China lovely and interesting, except for that minor surveillance stuff”
Looks like the Americans were issued a protocol for dealing with that.
https://nypost.com/2026/05/15/us-news/trump-bare-knuckles-his-way-through-china-summit-without-his-trusty-cell-phone/
So, should be fine, unless someone on the plane is a CCP agent, like the recently indicted California mayor.
https://twitchy.com/justmindy/2026/05/11/eileen-wang-n2428095
Also, despite a slight discrepancy with the NYP report: say goodbye to those great souvenirs, folks!
https://twitchy.com/justmindy/2026/05/15/american-delegation-trashes-all-gifts-from-china-n2428246