President Trump on Monday flatly denied discussing the sale of U.S. weapons with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their recent meeting.
Trump was pressed by reporters after U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue suggested over the weekend that Trump had floated the idea of selling weapons to China.
“I never heard of that one,” Trump said when asked about Perdue’s remarks, dismissing the claim directly.
Trump acknowledged China’s potential interest in American military equipment, saying “they probably like to buy it because we do make better equipment than that, so maybe it’s a good idea.”
He then speculated that Perdue may have been referring to something else entirely, saying “He may have been talking about Taiwan. I think he probably was talking about that.”
Perdue made his remarks during an appearance on Fox News Sunday with host Shannon Bream, stating that Trump had raised the weapons sale idea with Xi despite longstanding tensions between the two nations.
Perdue also said Trump downplayed U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, framing them as just one of several routine weapons transactions conducted by the United States.
Selling arms to China would directly conflict with U.S. laws that permit the shipment of weapons to Taiwan specifically to help the island defend itself against a potential Chinese invasion.
While the U.S. strongly backs Taiwan’s security, it does not formally recognize the island as an independent country, and past administrations have deliberately avoided committing to its military defense.
Trump has previously signaled a tough posture on the Taiwan question, warning last November that China would face “consequences” if it chose to invade the island.
When CBS News anchor Norah O’Donnell pressed Trump during a 60 Minutes interview on why he refused to spell out what those consequences would be, Trump responded: “I don’t want to give away, I can’t give away my secrets.”
The conflicting accounts from Trump and his own ambassador highlight ongoing uncertainty around U.S. policy toward both China and Taiwan at a particularly sensitive moment in relations between the two powers.
