ISTANBUL, Sept 29 – US President Donald Trump on Monday rejected claims that he proposed selling American military hardware to China during his recent bilateral summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“I’ve never heard of that one,” Trump told reporters when questioned about the matter. “We didn’t discuss that. He may have been talking about Taiwan.”
While remarking that Beijing would likely want American defence equipment because the US manufactures superior systems—calling the prospect a “good idea”—Trump maintained that the topic was never raised during discussions with Xi.
The clarification follows comments made by US Ambassador to China David Perdue on Sunday during an interview with Fox News. Perdue stated that Trump frequently highlights US defence exports to foreign leaders and had asked Xi “at one point” whether Beijing would be interested in purchasing American military equipment.
Clarifying the diplomatic stance, a US State Department official subsequently told the South China Morning Post that federal law prohibits defence sales to China and confirmed that Washington maintains no plans or offers to supply weapons to Beijing.
Historically, the US has sold military hardware to China. During a period of strategic alignment against the Soviet Union in the 1980s, Washington supplied Beijing with military technology, including AN/TPQ-37 counter-artillery radars and Mark-46 torpedoes.
–NMT
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