Image of bin full of Chinese gifts thrown away by US officials, media is AI-generated
- Published on May 20, 2026 at 06:38
- 3 min read
- By Chayanit ITTHIPONGMAETEE, AFP Thailand
White House staffers and reporters handed over badges and pins issued by China before they boarded Air Force One at the conclusion of US President Donald Trump's Beijing summit, but an image shared on social media of a bin packed with gifts was created with AI. The image includes several visual irregularities and was flagged by detection tools as synthetic content. An AFP photographer who covered the departure also said the image is a fabrication, while the White House called it AI-generated.
"Trump's team dumped a pile of gifts and souvenirs from China at the Beijing airport. They were barred from Air Force One over security fears that the items could contain hidden bugs or hacking devices," says the Thai-language caption of a Facebook image shared on May 16, 2026.
The image, which garnered more than 5,000 reactions and 380 shares, appears to show a large bin overflowing with red gift boxes and Chinese souvenirs in front of the president's aeroplane.
The same image was also shared in similar posts in multiple languages shortly after the conclusion of US President Donald Trump's two-day summit with China's President Xi Jinping in Beijing on May 15 (archived link).
The meeting was aimed at easing tensions between the rival superpowers, and Trump said he made "fantastic trade deals" and resolved "a lot of different problems" -- while Xi described it as a "milestone visit" (archived link).
But tensions flared on the sidelines between Chinese and US staff over press coverage and security.
American officials made staffers and media boarding Air Force One hand over all badges and pins given to them by the Chinese side, as well as "burner" phones from the US delegation. The confiscated items were tossed in a trash can at the bottom of the stairs of the presidential jet, AFP reported (archived link).
The New York Post's White House correspondent Emily Goodin also wrote on X on May 15: "American staff took everything Chinese officials handed out -- credentials, burner phones from WH staff, pins for delegation -- collected them before we got on AF1 and threw them in a bin at bottom of stairs. Nothing from China was allowed on the plane" (archived link).
The image circulating on social media, however, is AI-generated.
Fabricated image
There are several visual differences between the circulating image and AFP photos of Trump boarding Air Force One in Beijing, such as the shape of the aircraft's fuselage and the arrangement of windows and hatches.
AFP photographer Brendan Smialowski, who was present at the scene, called the photo "a 100 percent fabrication".
He said members of the press were asked to surrender Chinese-issued credentials, pins and what appeared to be temporary phones.
"This isn't all that uncommon particularly with hard pins. My understanding is there can be security concerns with what's in them or the issuer just might want them back. I've had to give up credentials or pins in the past enough times that it has become unremarkable."
"I didn't see any large trash bins full of gifts," Smialowski added.
The White House's chief photo editor Patrick Witty also shared the image on his official X account on May 16, saying: "Should go without saying, but this image is AI-generated" (archived link).
Moreover, a White House official also told AFP via email on May 18 that the circulating image is AI-generated.
Synthetic image, a detection tool in the Verification Plugin, found "very strong evidence" the image was synthetic, while Hive Moderation's detection tool found it is likely AI-generated (archived here and here).
AFP has previously debunked misinformation stemming from Trump's visit to China.
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