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U.S. President Donald Trump once asked Chinese President Xi Jinping whether China would like to buy U.S. arms, U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue said Sunday, prompting the State Department to say there is "no offer or plan" for such sales.
Perdue made the remark on "Fox News Sunday" while defending Trump's handling of a pending $14 billion arms package for Taiwan, days after Trump hosted Xi for a state visit in Washington.
He did not say when the question was asked.
U.S. law prohibits arms sales to China, and Washington is required under the Taiwan Relations Act to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.
The $14 billion package has been on hold since Trump's May summit with Xi in Beijing.
Asked whether the U.S. was holding back arms for Taiwan to appease Xi, Perdue said Trump "is as strong on Taiwan as I've ever seen anybody."
He said Trump and Xi continue to discuss future U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan.
"But President Trump continues to say, 'Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world,'" Perdue said, adding, "He actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some, at one point."
Perdue said U.S. policy on Taiwan had not changed and that talks on the timing of the $14 billion package are "continuing."
He noted that Trump authorized a record $11.1 billion in arms for Taiwan last December.
"US law prohibits arms sales to China and there is no offer or plan to sell arms to China," the State Department said after the interview.
A U.S. official told the Financial Times (FT), "The US government has no plans to sell weapons to China."
Zack Cooper, an Asia security expert at the American Enterprise Institute, said, "It is shocking that Trump is resisting authorising arms sales to Taiwan but at the same time offering them to China."
Dennis Wilder, a former top White House Asia adviser to President George W. Bush, said Trump may have been "yanking President Xi's chain" about the superiority of U.S. weapons.
"Even joking about an issue of great importance to Taiwan and our allies in east Asia may redouble existing doubts about the seriousness with which the president takes the threat of Chinese military aggression," he said.
After the May summit in Beijing, Trump called arms sales to Taiwan a "very good negotiating chip" with China.
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