US President Donald Trump has asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping if Beijing would like to buy American weapons. This was announced by US Ambassador to China David Pardew in an interview with “Fox News Sunday“, without specifying when exactly the conversation took place, Focus reports.
Pardew spoke about the conversation while commenting on US policy towards Taiwan and the delayed arms supplies to the island. According to him, Trump presented arms sales as a practice that the US applies to countries around the world, and in this context he addressed the question to Xi.
The ambassador rejected suggestions that Washington is limiting its support for Taiwan to avoid tension with Beijing. He said Trump and Xi continue to discuss future US arms sales to Taiwan.
The issue is particularly sensitive, as China strongly opposes US arms sales to Taiwan. At the same time, Washington has a long-standing policy of providing funds and weapons for the island's defense.
Following Pardue's statement, however, the State Department clarified that the United States has no proposal or plan to sell arms to China, also pointing out that US law prohibits such deals.
Meanwhile, Taiwan is awaiting a decision from Washington on a new US arms package worth about $14 billion, the approval of which has been delayed for months.