U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue revealed on September 27, 2026, that President Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping during recent Washington meetings if Beijing wanted to buy American weapons, a startling proposal that runs counter to decades of strict U.S. arms embargoes against China.
The unusual overture surfaced as the White House faced intense scrutiny over a delayed $14 billion arms sales package for Taiwan. Administration officials have defended the holdup while navigating high-stakes diplomatic talks, culminating in a state visit that brought Xi to Washington from Wednesday through Friday of last week.
David Perdue Discloses the China Weapons Inquiry on Fox News
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Ambassador David Perdue defended the administration’s record on Taiwan against suggestions that weapon shipments were being withheld to appease Beijing. To illustrate how President Trump contextualizes military sales, Perdue disclosed an unexpected question posed directly to the Chinese leader. Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday
asked if the U.S. is denying arms and aid to Taiwan to appease the Chinese president, who visited Trump last week. 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 U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan.
Perdue told Fox News on Sunday: 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.
The ambassador had already told CNBC on Friday that there had been no change in Taiwan policy by Trump, including on arms sales.
Legal Barriers and the Longstanding Arms Embargo on Beijing
Washington has maintained a strict weapons embargo on China, imposed following Beijing’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in June 1989. It was not clear when Trump made the offer, nor how such an offer could be consummated. David Perdue said Trump raised the prospect of the arms sales from the U.S. to its ascendant geopolitical rival, an unlikely offer that if consummated would upend generations of U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan and potentially expose U.S. technology to a potential foe. Perdue, speaking on Fox News Sunday
days after Trump hosted Xi for a state visit in Washington, didn’t specify when the offer was made. The remark comes as Washington investigates the diversion of F-35 fighter jet components to Hong Kong.
The Pending $14 Billion Taiwan Package and Diplomatic Influence
The ambassador’s disclosure intersects directly with mounting anxiety over Taiwan’s defense procurement pipeline, which has been waiting for months for Trump to approve a new arms sales package worth $14bn, after a record multi-billion dollar deal was unveiled in December last year. Under the decades-old Taiwan Relations Act, the United States is required to provide Taipei with sufficient military equipment to defend itself. Trump’s level of commitment to protecting Taiwan has previously been questioned. At a meeting with Xi in Beijing in May, Trump said he was keeping the $14bn Taiwan arms sales package in abeyance, describing it as a very good negotiating chip
in dealings with China.
The delay prompted four Republican senators to send a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio seeking an explanation for the situation. Washington has long maintained a strategically ambiguous stance on whether it would defend Taiwan in the event of an invasion. Beijing has repeatedly said it resolutely opposes
Washington’s arms sales to the island democracy, which it regards as a breakaway province, despite never having ruled it, and has not renounced the use of force to take it back. Xi urged Trump to oppose Taiwan independence during their Washington meeting last week, according to Xinhua.
Meanwhile, Chen Ming-chi told reporters in Taipei that Taiwan faces a severe situation in the Taiwan strait. Even though China’s economy is declining, it continues investing more resources into building military capacity. Under this context, the US very much understands our defence needs,
while Taiwan waited for Trump to approve the package.
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