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

Donald Trump offered to sell arms to China while hosting his leader, Xi Jinping, last week, the US ambassador to China said on Sunday.

David Perdue told Fox News on Sunday: “President Trump keeps saying, hey, we sell guns to other people around the world. He actually asked President Xi if he would like to buy some at some point.”

The extraordinary claim came during an interview about US policy towards Taiwan, which has been waiting months for Trump to approve a new arms sales package worth $14 billion, after a record multibillion-dollar deal was unveiled in December last year.

Trump’s level of commitment to protecting Taiwan has already been called into question. At a meeting with Xi in Beijing in May, Trump said he was keeping the $14 billion package of arms sales to Taiwan on hold, describing it as a “very good bargaining chip” in relations with China.

Washington has long maintained an ambiguous strategic position 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 enough military equipment to defend itself.

Beijing has repeatedly said it “resolutely opposes” Washington’s arms sales to the island democracy, which it considers a breakaway province although it has never governed it, and has not renounced the use of force to seize weapons. During their meeting in Washington last week, Xi urged Trump to oppose “Taiwan independence,” according to a statement from China’s official Xinhua news agency.

After the Purdue interview, the White House told the New York Times that the United States had no plans to sell weapons to China, while the State Department said: “U.S. law prohibits arms sales to China and there are no offers or plans to sell weapons to China.” »

Before the interview, Taiwanese Vice Foreign Minister Chen Ming-chi spoke of the serious military threat posed by China.

“Taiwan is facing a serious situation in the Taiwan Strait. Even though China’s economy is in decline, it continues to invest more resources in strengthening its military capabilities. In this context, the United States understands our defense needs very well,” he told reporters in Taipei.

Trump has not mentioned the sale since last week’s summit, saying only on Saturday that Xi understands his position on Taiwan.

Perdue himself told CNBC on Friday that there had been no changes in Taiwan policy from Trump, including regarding arms sales.

With Reuters