President Donald Trump has justified the pending US arms sale to Taiwan to Chinese President Xi Jinping by downplaying it as just one of many sales Washington makes around the world – even asking Xi if he’d be in the market for US arms, Trump’s ambassador to China said on Sunday.
Shannon Bream had cited concerns from Republican and Democratic lawmakers over delayed aid packages and weapons orders to Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy, to defend itself from China’s threat to invade the island. She asked if the US is denying Taiwan to appease the Chinese president, who visited Trump last week.
David Perdue said Trump raised the prospect of the arms sales from the US to its ascendant geopolitical rival, an unlikely offer that if consummated would upend generations of US policy toward China and Taiwan and potentially expose US technology to a potential foe. Perdue, speaking to Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday” days after Trump hosted Xi for a state visit in Washington, didn’t specify when the offer was made.
“He actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some, at one point. China has pressed Washington to halt the arms sales, most prominently during a previous summit in May between Trump and Xi in Beijing.
Perdue pushed back on the suggestion, stating that Trump “is as strong on Taiwan as I’ve ever seen anybody” and has sold it plenty of weapons. Perdue also said Trump and Xi continue to talk about future US weapons sales to Taiwan. “But President Trump continues to say, ‘Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world,'” Perdue said. After that meeting, the United States paused the sale of a record-breaking $14 billion package – and Trump described arms sales to Taiwan as a “very good negotiating chip” with China.
