Trump Asked Xi if China Wants to Buy US Arms: Ambassador

President Trump has justified the pending US arms sale to Taiwan to Chinese President Xi Jinping by downplaying it as just one of many sales Washington makes around the world—even asking Xi if he'd be in the market for US arms, Trump's ambassador to China said on Sunday. David Perdue said Trump raised the prospect of the arms sales from the US to its ascendant geopolitical rival, an unlikely offer that if consummated would upend generations of US policy toward China and Taiwan and potentially expose US technology to a potential foe, the AP reports. Perdue, speaking to Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday days after Trump hosted Xi for a state visit in Washington, didn't specify when the offer was made.

Bream had cited 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, who visited Trump last week. Perdue pushed back on the suggestion, stating that Trump "is as strong on Taiwan as I've ever seen anybody" and has sold it plenty of weapons. Perdue also said Trump and Xi continue to talk about future US weapons sales to Taiwan. "But President Trump continues to say, 'Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world,'" Perdue said. "He actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some, at one point."

The US is bound by its own laws to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. While not recognizing Taiwan as a country, the US is the island's strongest informal backer and arms provider. But multiple US leaders have left ambiguous whether they would commit military force to defend the US ally should China invade. China has pressed Washington to halt the arms sales, most prominently during a previous summit in May between Trump and Xi in Beijing. After that meeting, the United States paused the sale of a record-breaking $14 billion package—and Trump described arms sales to Taiwan as a "very good negotiating chip" with China.