Trump Asked Xi Whether China Wants to Buy American Weapons, Ambassador Says

President Donald Trump asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping whether he wanted to buy weapons from the United States, the U.S. ambassador to China revealed on Sept. 27, days after the two leaders met in Washington. 

“President Trump continues to say, ‘Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world,’” Ambassador David Perdue said on Fox News Sunday during a discussion about arms sales to Taiwan. “He actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some, at one point.”

Perdue offered no further details about that exchange, including what prompted the offer or how Xi responded. It is also unclear whether it happened during Xi’s recent state visit to the United States or at an earlier meeting with Trump. 

The United States suspended arms sales to China in 1989 after the Tiananmen Square Massacre, when the Chinese Communist Party sent troops and tanks to crush unarmed student protesters demanding political reforms in Beijing, killing thousands.

The State Department told The Epoch Times in a statement that “U.S. law prohibits arms sales to China and there is no offer or plan to sell arms to China.”

The White House also told The Epoch Times that the U.S. government has “no plans to sell weapons to China.” 

When asked at the Sept. 28 briefing in Beijing about Perdue’s account, foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun didn’t confirm or deny it, saying only that China always strengthens its defense capabilities “based on its needs.”

Perdue’s revelation came as questions mount over the People’s Liberation Army’s combat readiness amid the deepening purges of Chinese military leaders and defense contractors. Just days before heading to Washington, Xi expelled the country’s most senior general and accused him of disloyalty and corruption. 

Arms Sales to Taiwan 

Xi departed Washington on Sept. 25 after a two-day state visit that included a bilateral summit with Trump. Xi used the meeting to stress Beijing’s position on Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy it claims as its own territory. According to the Chinese readout, Xi asked Washington to “oppose Taiwan independence.” 

Perdue told Fox News Sunday that Xi and Trump discussed Taiwan whenever they met, reiterating that there are no changes in Washington’s decades-old policy on Taiwan. 

“We don’t support independence, and we don’t support coercion,” Perdue said. 

Despite a lack of formal diplomatic ties, Washington and Taipei have enjoyed a robust relationship. The United States is bound by law to provide Taiwan with tools to defend itself. But the delayed approval of a $14 billion arms sale has sparked concerns about a potential shift in U.S. policy in the Indo-Pacific region. 

Asked whether the Trump administration was limiting support for Taiwan in order to appease Xi, Perdue said, “That’s absolutely not the case.”

The administration has already greenlit a record $11 billion arms sales package for Taiwan, and talks of additional sales are ongoing, the ambassador noted. 

“President Trump has already sold 50 percent more arms to Taiwan than any other president since 1979,” he said. “And so I don’t accept the premise that he’s not doing all that we should be doing for Taiwan.”

Speaking to reporters on Sept. 26, Trump confirmed Taiwan came up in his meeting with Xi.

“Right now, it’s fine. It’s just moving along,” Trump said before departing the White House. “We didn’t spend a lot of time talking about Taiwan. He understands very much how I feel.”