Trump denies offering arms to China

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President Donald Trump on Monday denied offering to sell American weapons to China, contradicting remarks by his ambassador to Beijing.

US Ambassador to China David Perdue told Fox News that Trump had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping during his White House visit last week whether China wanted to buy US weapons.

“I’ve never heard of that one, I’m going to have to ask him,” Trump told reporters when asked about Perdue’s comments.

“They’d probably like to buy it because we do make better equipment than them, so maybe it’s a good idea. But we didn’t discuss it.”

Perdue said the offer came as the two leaders discussed US weapons sales to Taiwan.

“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,” Perdue said.

A US official told AFP that Washington had no plans to sell weapons to China, while the State Department told The New York Times that US law prohibits such sales.

US weapons sales to Taiwan have long been a source of tension with Beijing, which claims the self-ruled island as its territory.

Washington approved an $11.1 billion arms sale to Taiwan in December but paused a separate $14-billion weapons purchase in May.