US President Donald Trump asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping whether Beijing would be interested in buying American weapons, according to Washington's ambassador to China, David Perdue. This revelation was made during an interview with Fox News Sunday, where Perdue discussed Trump's approach to China and continued American weapons sales to Taiwan. The exchange between Trump and Xi is particularly notable given the longstanding federal restrictions on defense exports to China.
The restrictions on military exports to China were put in place in 1990, when Congress restricted the export of defense articles on the US Munitions List to mainland China. These restrictions have effectively maintained a US arms embargo on Beijing for decades, with limited exceptions and presidential national-interest determinations. Despite this, Washington continues to supply Taiwan with weapons, which Beijing considers part of China and a violation of its sovereignty.
The US-Taiwan relationship is complex, with the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act stating that the US will make defense articles and services available to the island in quantities deemed necessary for it to maintain a "sufficient self-defense capability." The Trump administration approved an $11 billion package for Taiwan last December, the largest announced to date, and another package worth roughly $14 billion has remained on hold for months. Trump has described the stalled package as a "very good negotiating chip."
Perdue defended Trump's record on Taiwan, claiming the president has already authorized substantially more weapons for the island than his predecessors. The ambassador portrayed Trump's question to Xi as characteristic of his deal-making approach rather than evidence that a formal sale was being considered. It is unclear what Washington could realistically offer Beijing that China does not already produce domestically, given China's self-sufficiency in most major conventional weapons categories.
China is estimated to have an industrial capacity 230 times that of the United States in shipbuilding, where production can be compared more directly. This leaves cutting-edge technologies and know-how in areas where Washington still retains an advantage - precisely the capabilities the US treats as highly sensitive and is unlikely to share with its principal strategic rival. The Chinese Defense Ministry urged the US to exercise "extreme caution" on the issue ahead of Xi's Washington visit.
The two leaders have met twice this year - in Beijing in May and during Xi's three-day state visit to Washington last week. The White House's post-summit materials did not announce any decision on the stalled package. Perdue made his remark while discussing Trump's approach to China and Taiwan, and it is unclear how Xi responded to Trump's question about buying American weapons.
The incident highlights the complexities of the US-China relationship, with Washington continuing to antagonize Beijing by supplying Taiwan with weapons. The US-China relationship has been further complicated by Trump's approach to trade and diplomacy, with the two nations engaging in a series of high-stakes negotiations on trade and security issues.
Key points
- US President Donald Trump asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping if Beijing would like to buy American weapons, despite longstanding restrictions on military exports to China.
- The restrictions on military exports to China have effectively maintained a US arms embargo on Beijing for decades.
- Washington continues to supply Taiwan with weapons, which Beijing considers part of China and a violation of its sovereignty.
