I mean, there is a history of a lot of nations doing this.

They should know after having received one of these marvels back in the Cold War.

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.

That’s well known. We even did that with the original iPod back in the day.

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.