Trump asked Xi Jinping if China wants to buy US arms, ambassador says

WASHINGTON, DC: Donald Trump’s preparations to host Chinese President Xi Jinping did not stop at diplomacy, as he reportedly raised a potentially law-defying proposition with the Chinese leader.

US Ambassador to China David Perdue recently revealed that the 80-year-old President, while hosting Xi last week, asked him if he was interested in purchasing American weapons.

The revelation follows reports that China acquired sensitive F-35 fighter jet parts sent to Hong Kong, though the circumstances behind how they ended up in Chinese hands remain unclear.

Perdue says Trump asked Xi about US weapons

Perdue was speaking to Shannon Bream on 'Fox News Sunday' days after Trump hosted Xi for a state visit in Washington, when he revealed the alleged proposition.

“President Trump continues to say: hey, we sell arms to other people around the world, “” then added, “he actually asked President Xi would he like to buy some at one point,” he said, without specifying when Trump made the proposal.

The revelation that a US president floated the idea of selling American weapons to China stands out given the extraordinary strategic rivalry between the two countries.

Beijing is widely viewed by lawmakers and policymakers in both parties as Washington’s most consequential military, economic, and diplomatic competitor and the only power seen as capable of mounting a sustained challenge to America’s superpower status.

When asked for comment, the White House said through a US official that the United States had no plans to sell arms to China.

“US law prohibits arms sales to China, and there is no offer or plan to sell arms to China,” the State Department specified in a statement.

Perdue’s revelation came as reports emerged that Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Chinese defense companies that, with Beijing’s approval, are allegedly supporting US adversaries such as Iran and Russia by supplying dual-use equipment and satellite imagery, while also planning covert weapons exports.

Perdue confirms Trump is continuing conversations about Taiwan arms sales

During the Sunday conversation, Bream also highlighted concerns from Republican and Democratic lawmakers over delayed aid packages and weapons orders to Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy, to defend itself from China’s threat to invade the island.

Bream asked if the US is denying Taiwan to appease the Chinese president. The host was referring to reports that claimed that the Trump administration had paused a roughly $14 billion weapons sale to Taiwan amid trade negotiations and pressure on US stockpiles caused by the wars in Iran and Ukraine.

“President Trump’s already approved $11 billion. There are continuing conversations about other sales. He and President Xi talk about that every time they get together,” Perdue replied when asked about the pause.

“Our support for that has not changed,” the ambassador added about America’s position on Taiwan. “We don’t support independence and we don’t support coercion.”

Washington has long maintained a strategically ambiguous stance on whether it would defend Taiwan in the event of an invasion. But under the decades-old Taiwan Relations Act, it is required to provide Taipei with sufficient military equipment to defend itself.

However, Beijing has repeatedly said it “resolutely opposes” US arms sales to Taiwan, which it considers a breakaway province despite never having governed the island, and has refused to rule out using force to bring it under its control.