Trump says he did not discuss the possibility of the US selling weapons to China, contradicting his ambassador

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President Donald Trump said Monday that he did not discuss the US selling weapons to China during his recent meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, contradicting an assertion made by the US ambassador to China a day earlier.

US Ambassador to China David Perdue had told Fox News Sunday that Trump “continues to say: hey, we sell arms to other people around the world,” adding that the president “actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some, at one point.”

Pressed on Perdue’s comments Monday, Trump seemed surprised.

“To China? You mean to Taiwan? I’ve never heard of that one. I’m going to have to ask him,” Trump said. “Now, they’d probably like to buy it because we do make better equipment than that, so maybe it’s a good idea. But we didn’t discuss that.”

He added about Perdue’s comments: “He may have been talking about Taiwan. I think he was talking about Taiwan.”

Following the ambassador’s remarks Sunday, the State Department also disputed that the US was contemplating selling arms to China, telling reporters that, “U.S. law prohibits arms sales to China and there is no offer or plan to sell arms to China.” And a US official added: “The U.S. government has no plans to sell weapons to China.”

CNN’s Logan Schiciano contributed to this report.

Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普周一表示，他在最近与中国领导人习近平的会晤中没有讨论美国向中国出售武器的问题，这与美国驻华大使前一天的说法相矛盾。

美国驻华大使戴维·珀杜周日告诉福克斯新闻，特朗普“继续说：嘿，我们向世界各地的其他人出售武器”，并补充说，总统“实际上一度问过习近平主席，他是否想买一些武器”。

周一，当被问及珀杜的言论时，特朗普似乎感到惊讶。

“卖给中国？你是说卖给台湾？我从没听说过。我得问问他，”特朗普说。“他们可能想买，因为我们的确生产比那更好的设备，所以也许这是个好主意。但我们没讨论过这个。”

他补充道，关于珀杜的言论：“他可能指的是台湾。我认为他指的是台湾。”

在大使周日发表上述言论后，美国国务院也否认美国正在考虑向中国出售武器，并告诉记者：“美国法律禁止向中国出售武器，目前没有任何向中国出售武器的提议或计划。”一位美国官员补充说：“美国政府没有向中国出售武器的计划。”

CNN的Logan Schiciano对本报道亦有贡献。