Trump Asked Xi About Buying U.S. Weapons, Perdue Says
Perdue said the president framed arms sales as leverage in talks with Xi, while officials said U.S. law bars any sale to China.
- On Sunday, U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue revealed that President Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping if he would like to purchase American weapons during Xi's state visit to Washington last week.
- The disclosure follows scrutiny over a stalled $14 billion arms package for Taiwan, which Trump previously described as a 'very good negotiating chip' with China, amid Beijing's strong opposition to U.S. weapons sales to the island.
- Defending the administration's record, Perdue asserted Trump has 'already sold 50% more arms to Taiwan than any other president since 1979,' while maintaining that discussions about future sales remain ongoing.
- Following the remarks, the White House and State Department clarified that 'U.S. law prohibits arms sales to China' and stated there is no offer or plan to provide weaponry to Beijing.
- Analysts like Ryan Hass, director of the China Centre at the Brookings Institution, warned the offer could unsettle American partners, while Xi continues urging Washington to handle Taiwan policy with 'prudence.
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505 Articles
Trump has reportedly proposed arms sales to China. However, since the US arms embargo against China in 1989, such sales have become impossible due to current strategic competition. This episode highlights Trump's transactional foreign policy style, challenging the traditional framework of national security strategy.
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Photo: Evan El-Amin / Shutterstock In diplomacy, anecdotes matter most when they collide with hard law: a single recollection about a presidential aside can reverberate globally if it appears to trespass into a domain Washington has cordoned off for decades by statute. At a Glance Ambassador David Perdue publicly said President Trump asked Xi Jinping if China wanted to buy American weapons; multiple outlets carried the same quotation. Trump deni…
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Ambassador Reveals Trump Pitched U.S. Weapons to China’s Xi Jinping
U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue said President Donald Trump asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping whether Beijing would be interested in buying American weapons. Perdue disclosed the remark during an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Sept. 27, while discussing Trump's approach to China and continued U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, according to an account published by Russia Today [1]. "President Trump continues to say, 'Hey, we sell arms to other pe…
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