Critics call Trump’s offer to sell China weapons ‘insane’
- Hong Kong Watch co-founder Benedict Rogers called President Trump’s reported offer to sell weapons to Chinese leader Xi Jinping “insane.”
- U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue disclosed on Sunday’s Fox News interview that Trump had offered to sell weapons to Xi during recent White House talks.
- The State Department denied Perdue’s account the same day: “U.S. law prohibits arms sales to China and there is no offer or plan to sell arms to China.”
- Brookings Institution China scholar Ryan Hass said the offer “will be unsettling to American partners at the pointy edge of China’s spear.”
- Four Republican senators wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio seeking an explanation for a delayed $14 billion arms sales package for Taiwan.
State Department denies any arms offer to China exists
Hong Kong Watch co-founder Benedict Rogers called President Donald Trump’s reported offer to sell weapons to Chinese leader Xi Jinping “insane” on Sunday, hours after U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue disclosed the offer on Fox News.
“If the Ambassador is telling the truth, then this is insane,” Rogers said online.
Perdue made the comment in a Sunday Fox News interview that aired days after Trump hosted Xi at the White House for a state visit that ran from Wednesday through Friday. “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.
It was not clear when Trump made the offer, nor how such an offer could be consummated. Asked about the comment, a State Department spokesperson said: “U.S. law prohibits arms sales to China and there is no offer or plan to sell arms to China.”
The United States has maintained a strict weapons embargo on China since 1989, imposed after the Chinese government used military force against pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in June 1989. In contrast, the United States has for decades sold weapons to Taiwan, a self-governing democratic island, to help it defend from a potential invasion by China, which considers Taiwan a breakaway province and has threatened to take back by force if necessary.
The disclosure comes as the White House has delayed approval of a $14 billion arms sales package for Taiwan. Four Republican senators wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio seeking an explanation for the holdup, saying the Taiwan situation, coupled with Trump’s self-professed relationship with Xi, leaves them with “serious concerns about the strength of U.S. commitments to key partners and allies in Asia and across the globe.”
Perdue defended Trump in the same interview, saying the president is “as strong on Taiwan as I’ve ever seen anybody” and claiming Trump has sold more weapons to Taiwan than any other president since 1979. In rejecting suggestions that Trump was withholding the Taiwan arms sales to appease Xi, Perdue said Trump had told the Chinese leader that Washington sells weapons to people around the world and “had even offered to sell them to Xi.”
Brookings Institution China scholar Ryan Hass said Trump’s offer to China “will be unsettling to American partners at the pointy edge of China’s spear.” “If there was any ambiguity about whether President Trump views China as a security threat, this disclosure by [Perdue] puts the question to rest,” Hass said online.