Why 🦕 US-China-Geopolitics picked: Trump asked Xi if China wanted to buy American weapons, US envoy says

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<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/geopolitics/comments/1wrw74f/trump_asked_xi_if_china_wanted_to_buy_american/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer ugc" target="_blank"> </a> <!-- SC_OFF --><p>Donald Trump asked Xi Jinping “at one point” whether China was interested in buying American weapons, the US envoy to Beijing said on Sunday.</p> <p>In an interview with Fox News, ambassador David Perdue said: “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?”</p> <p>The comment came in response to questions about whether Trump had delayed the approval of a record $14bn arms-sale package for Taiwan in an effort to appease Xi and avoid derailing his meetings with the Chinese leader.</p> <p>Perdue did not make clear if Trump made the offer during the summit this week or on another occasion, such as their meeting in Beijing in May.</p> <p>Trump’s comments were all the more remarkable since his administration has raised concerns about Beijing providing help — including dual-use technology with military applications — to Iran and views China as its biggest military rival.</p> <p>“Trump’s purported offer to sell weapons to China is demented. I bet Xi was tempted to say: ‘We’ll take one of everything, please,’” said Zack Cooper, an Asia security expert at the American Enterprise Institute. “It is shocking that Trump is resisting authorising arms sales to Taiwan but at the same time offering them to China.”</p> <p>Ahead of the summit, Taiwan and US allies were nervous that Trump might weaken US support for Taiwan to get something in exchange from Xi. After their last meeting, which was held in Beijing in May, Trump sparked concern by saying that arms sales to Taiwan were a “good negotiating chip”.</p> <p>The White House did not respond to a request for comment about Perdue’s remarks.</p> <p>Dennis Wilder, former top White House Asia adviser to George W Bush, said Trump may have been “yanking President Xi’s chain” to remind him about the superiority of US weapons but stressed that even that was dangerous.</p> <p>“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,” Wilder said.</p> <p>Perdue dismissed concerns about Trump’s position on Taiwan, saying he was “as strong on Taiwan as I’ve ever seen anybody” and rejected suggestions that Trump had delayed the $14bn arms sales package to appease China.</p> <p>China’s Xinhua state-run news agency on Thursday said Xi had said Beijing “hopes the US side will adhere to the correct position of opposing ‘Taiwan independence’.”</p> <p>Perdue said US policy towards Taiwan had not changed. This included the One China policy, which says the US recognises Beijing as the government of China and acknowledges — without accepting — its claim of sovereignty over Taiwan.</p> <p>Perdue declined to discuss the timing of the $14bn arms package except to say conversations were “continuing”.</p> <p>He noted that Trump had authorised a record $11.1bn in arms to Taipei last December — more than the $8.4bn President Joe Biden approved over four years, according to the US-Taiwan Business Council. And he added that Trump had approved over 50 per cent more arms for Taiwan than any US leader since 1979.</p> <p>Speaking to CBS News on Sunday, Alexander Yui, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the US, said: “The US has been our main supplier of selling weapons to Taiwan. We hope that we can get that weapons [package] in as soon as possible.”</p> <!-- SC_ON --> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/John3262005" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer ugc" target="_blank"> /u/John3262005 </a> <br/> <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/8b4690d4-7c02-48af-b117-56faf21c389d" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer ugc" target="_blank">[link]</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/geopolitics/comments/1wrw74f/trump_asked_xi_if_china_wanted_to_buy_american/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer ugc" target="_blank">[comments]</a>