The End of the Multipolar Bluff: The Beijing Summit as a Point of Transition

Before boarding Air Force One, the American security detail walked through the delegation with a simple instruction: surrender everything the Chinese side had handed out. Badges, lanyards, single-use phones — all of it went into a basket at the foot of the steps. American delegates had not brought personal devices to Beijing at all: phones stayed in the United States or sat powered down on the aircraft. The entire trip was conducted on disposable "clean" phones and temporary laptops. Paper documents instead of digital. Closed communication channels. The intelligence services had given advance warning: the Chinese side would attempt to lift anything liftable from every member of the delegation.

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