Trump asked Xi Jinping if China wanted to purchase American weapons

United States Ambassador to China David Perdue stated on Sept. 27 that President Donald Trump previously asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping if Beijing wanted to purchase American weapons. The revelation emerged during an interview with Fox News Sunday, highlighting an unusual proposal from an American president to a primary geopolitical rival as Washington simultaneously withholds billions in arms sales and aid to Taiwan.

Stalled Arms Sales to Taiwan Amid Beijing Outreach

While the administration floats the prospect of defense sales to Beijing, Washington has kept a $14 billion arms sales package for Taiwan on hold. The delay also affects $300 million in military financing for Taipei alongside $10 billion designated for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative.

Perdue did not specify whether Trump’s inquiry into selling arms to China occurred during last week’s U.S.-China summit or earlier discussions with Xi, nor did he indicate how the Chinese leader responded. The White House subsequently responded that Washington maintains no plans to sell arms to China. The U.S. State Department issued a formal statement noting that American law prohibits weapons sales to China and that no such proposals or plans currently exist. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Strategic Concerns Raised by Regional Partners

The disclosure of Trump’s pitch to Beijing drew immediate concern from foreign policy specialists regarding the security of traditional American allies in the Asia-Pacific region. Ryan Hass, a former White House national security official and director of the Brookings Institution’s China Center, posted that if anyone harbored doubts about whether Trump treats China as a security threat, Perdue’s disclosure makes the administration’s stance clear.

Hass added that proposing to sell weapons to China will inevitably unnerve regional partners facing direct military pressure from Beijing. Those vulnerable partners include the Philippines, Japan, and Taiwan. Observers note that these tensions are compounded by the rapid expansion of China’s military, which is growing at the fastest pace globally while narrowing the traditional lead held by American forces in the region.

Upcoming Diplomatic Summits and Timelines

Xi and Trump are scheduled to meet twice before the end of the year, first at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China and later in December at the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Miami. Analysts suggest that to avoid provoking Beijing ahead of these diplomatic engagements, Trump is unlikely to approve any arms sales to Taiwan before the end of the year. Domestic military strains, including the diversion of defense resources to operations involving Iran and manufacturing bottlenecks, continue to heighten anxiety over potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea, and the East China Sea.