Trump Contradicts Own Envoy, Denies Offering US Arms Sales To China’s Xi Jinping

US President Donald Trump on Monday denied asking Chinese President Xi Jinping whether China wanted to buy American weapons, contradicting an account given by his ambassador to Beijing, David Perdue. Perdue had said in a Fox News interview that Trump raised the possibility of selling US arms to Xi during the Chinese president’s recent state visit to Washington. Trump, when asked about the claim by reporters in the Oval Office, said he had never heard of it and would have to ask Perdue. He added that the two leaders did not discuss such a proposal.

Perdue had made the comments while discussing US arms sales to Taiwan, a longstanding source of tension between Washington and Beijing. The ambassador said Trump had sought to explain to Xi that the United States sells weapons to countries around the world and, at one point, asked whether the Chinese leader would also like to buy some. Perdue did not specify exactly when the alleged exchange took place or provide details about any potential weapons or a response from Xi. He said Trump and Xi continue to discuss weapons sales whenever they meet and maintained that US policy towards Taiwan had not changed.

Trump’s response appeared to distance himself from Perdue’s account. After initially saying he had not heard about the alleged discussion, Trump suggested that Perdue might have been referring to Taiwan rather than China. He also said that China would probably like to buy US equipment because, in his view, the United States makes better military equipment, adding that perhaps such a sale would be a good idea. However, he reiterated that he and Xi did not discuss the matter. The differing accounts have drawn attention because US arms sales to China are prohibited under existing US law.

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The US State Department subsequently sought to clarify the administration’s position. A department statement said US law prohibits arms sales to China and that there was no offer or plan to sell weapons to Beijing. A separate US official also told AFP that the US government had no plans to sell weapons to China. The statements indicate that, regardless of Perdue’s description of Trump’s remarks, there is currently no announced US government plan for an arms sale to China.

The issue emerged against the backdrop of a broader dispute over US weapons sales to Taiwan. Washington has long supplied defensive equipment to Taiwan, while Beijing strongly opposes such sales and regards Taiwan as part of its territory. Perdue said Trump remained committed to Taiwan’s defence and argued that the president had already approved substantial arms sales to the island. The ambassador also said Trump and Xi continue to discuss future US weapons sales to Taiwan, while stressing that Washington’s stated position on the Taiwan issue had not changed.

The reported exchange has attracted particular attention because the United States and China remain major strategic competitors, and any decision to resume American arms sales to Beijing would represent a major departure from longstanding policy. US arms sales to China effectively ended decades ago, while Washington has increasingly restricted technology and military-related transfers to Chinese entities. The possibility raised by Perdue therefore stands in sharp contrast to the current legal and strategic framework governing US-China defence relations.

For now, the administration has not announced any arms deal with China, and the State Department has explicitly said that US law prohibits such sales. Trump’s denial of Perdue’s account leaves the circumstances of the ambassador’s comments unclear, while Trump’s suggestion that Perdue may have been referring to Taiwan offers one possible explanation for the discrepancy. The episode has nevertheless placed renewed focus on US arms sales to Taiwan, Washington’s military relationship with Beijing and the competing accounts emerging from the Trump administration following the recent Trump-Xi meeting.

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