OMM Redaksiyası
US President Donald Trump has denied suggesting that Washington could sell American military equipment to China during his recent bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to the South China Morning Post.
“I’ve never heard of that one,” Trump told reporters on Monday when asked about comments by US Ambassador to China David Perdue. “We didn’t discuss that. He may have been talking about Taiwan.”
Trump said Beijing would probably be interested in buying US defense equipment because American systems were superior, describing such a deal as “a good idea”. However, he maintained that the issue had not been raised during the meeting.
What did the US ambassador say?
Perdue told Fox News that Trump often tells foreign leaders that the United States sells defense equipment around the world. He added that Trump had asked Xi “at one point” whether China would like to purchase American arms.
A US State Department official later told the South China Morning Post that federal law prohibits defense sales to China. The official also said Washington had no plans or offers to supply weapons to Beijing.
Previous US military sales to China
The United States has sold military equipment to China in the past. During closer strategic cooperation between Washington and Beijing against the Soviet Union in the 1980s, the US supplied China with equipment including AN/TPQ-37 counter-artillery radars and Mark-46 torpedoes.
