Washington (United States) (AFP) – US President Donald Trump on Monday denied asking Xi Jinping if he wanted to buy American weapons, countering his own envoy’s claim that Trump made the offer to his Chinese counterpart.

US Ambassador to China David Perdue told Fox News on Sunday that Trump made the extraordinary offer to sell arms to the rival superpower.

“I’ve never heard of that one, I’m going to have to ask him,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about Purdue’s comments.

“They’d probably like to buy it because we do make better equipment than them, so maybe it’s a good idea. But we didn’t discuss it.”

Purdue had said Trump made the offer during Xi’s state visit to the White House last week in response to Chinese concerns over US weapons sales to Taiwan.

“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,” Perdue said in an interview with Fox News.

“There are continuing conversations about other sales, (Trump) and President Xi talk about that every time they get together,” Perdue said, adding that the US position has not changed.

A US official told AFP earlier that “the US government has no plans to sell weapons to China”, when asked about Purdue’s remarks.

US arms sales to Taiwan, a self-ruled island which China claims is part of its territory and has threatened to seize by force, have long been a thorny issue between Washington and Beijing.

The United States is required by law to supply Taiwan, which has a democratically elected president and legislature, with weapons for its defense.

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