President Donald Trump hosted Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington last week. On Sunday, U.S. Ambassador to China, David Perdue, discussed that visit and U.S. policy toward Taiwan during an interview on Fox News.
Perdue said Trump raised the idea of weapons sales with Xi. He stated, “President Trump continues to say, hey, we sell arms to other people around the world. He actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some at one point.”
The White House later told the New York Times that the United States had no plans to sell arms to China. The State Department said, “US law prohibits arms sales to China and there is no offer or plan to sell arms to China.”
Taiwan is still waiting on a large U.S. arms package after last year’s deal
The Guardian pointed out that Taiwan has been waiting for months for Trump to approve a new arms sales package worth $14 billion. That request followed a record multi-billion-dollar deal unveiled in December last year.
At a meeting with Xi in Beijing in May, Trump said he was keeping the $14 billion package in abeyance. He described it as a “very good negotiating chip” in dealings with China.
Washington has long maintained a strategically ambiguous stance on whether it would defend Taiwan if an invasion occurred. The decades-old Taiwan Relations Act requires the United States to provide Taipei with sufficient military equipment to defend itself.
Beijing has repeatedly said it “resolutely opposes” Washington’s arms sales to Taiwan. China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province, despite never having ruled it, and has not renounced the use of force to take it.
During the Washington meeting last week, Xi urged Trump to oppose “Taiwan independence,” according to a readout from the official Chinese news agency Xinhua. The meeting highlighted ongoing U.S.-China tensions, such as the reported consideration of allowing Chinese auto manufacturers into the American market.
Taiwanese deputy foreign minister Chen Ming-chi spoke before Perdue’s interview about the military pressure Taiwan faces. He told reporters in Taipei, “Taiwan faces a severe situation in the Taiwan strait. Even though China’s economy is declining, it continues investing more resources into building military capacity. Under this context, the US very much understands our defence needs.”
Trump has not mentioned selling weapons to China since last week’s summit. He said only on Saturday that Xi understands his position on Taiwan.
Perdue told CNBC on Friday that there had been no change in Taiwan policy by Trump, including on arms sales. Perdue’s comments followed a pattern of Trump’s high-profile interactions with foreign leaders, such as when he ordered Xi Jinping with fanfare at Joint Base Andrews, which Elizabeth Warren said was par for the course for Trump.
