US President Donald Trump has rejected remarks by his ambassador to China suggesting that he had offered Chinese President Xi Jinping the opportunity to buy US weapons, saying the diplomat was probably referring to weapons sales to Taiwan.
Trump said on Monday that he had “never heard” of the comments by Ambassador David Perdue and that he had not discussed arms deals during his meeting with Xi the previous week. Perdue had said in a Fox News interview on Sunday that Trump had asked the Chinese president whether China wanted to buy US weapons.
The ambassador’s remarks caused controversy because such an offer would conflict with the longstanding US prohibition on arms sales to China. Perdue said Trump continued to make the point that the United States sells weapons to countries around the world and had “actually” asked Xi at one point whether he wanted to buy them.
Trump later told reporters that China would probably be interested in purchasing American weapons because, in his view, the United States produces better equipment. “Maybe it’s a good idea,” he said.
The US State Department sought to distance the administration from Perdue’s comments on Monday, stating that US law prohibits weapons sales to China. The department said there was neither an offer nor a plan to sell weapons to the country.
The United States halted weapons sales to China after the violent suppression of protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989 and subsequently imposed a weapons embargo through legislation. At the same time, Washington has for years supported Taiwan in response to what the source describes as a threat from China.
The issue has also featured in discussions following the latest meeting between Trump and Xi. Taiwan’s government has called for the continuation of US arms deliveries to the island, while Taiwanese Deputy Foreign Minister Wu Chih-chung said maintaining Taiwan in its current form was “very important and in the interest of countries around the world”.
Wu also said he expected the United States to proceed with a planned weapons package intended to strengthen Taiwan’s defence capabilities.
Trump’s comments came after Perdue’s statement had prompted attention to the possibility of a major departure from the existing US policy on arms sales to China. The president said the ambassador had most likely been referring to Taiwan rather than the People’s Republic of China.
The conflicting statements leave the State Department’s position clear in the source: US law prohibits weapons sales to China, and the department said there was no offer or plan to sell American weapons to Beijing. Trump, meanwhile, said he had not discussed arms sales with Xi during their recent meeting and had not previously heard Perdue’s account.
