Ambassador Perdue says Trump once asked Xi whether China would like to buy U.S. arms. A $14 billion Taiwan package paused in May is pending.

Briefing note: on Sunday, Sept. 27, U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue said President Trump has justified the pending arms sale to Taiwan to Chinese President Xi Jinping by downplaying it as one of many sales Washington makes worldwide, and at one point asked Xi whether he'd be in the market for U.S. arms himself, the Associated Press reports via NBC News. "But President Trump continues to say, 'Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world,'" Perdue told Shannon Bream on "Fox News Sunday." "He actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some, at one point." Perdue didn't say when. The AP notes such an offer, if consummated, would upend generations of U.S. policy and could expose U.S. technology to a potential foe. Asked about bipartisan concern over delayed weapons orders for Taiwan, Perdue pushed back, saying Trump "is as strong on Taiwan as I've ever seen anybody," and said the two leaders still discuss future sales. The backdrop: after the May summit in Beijing, the U.S. paused a record-breaking $14 billion package, and Trump called arms sales to Taiwan a "very good negotiating chip" with China. At last week's White House talks, Xi pressed Trump to oppose Taiwan independence, according to Chinese state media. On Monday, Sept. 28, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun did not confirm Perdue's remarks. U.S. law obliges Washington to provide Taiwan the means to defend itself. Assessment: the anecdote may be salesmanship, not policy, and should be read that way for now. But in deterrence, words carry freight. In January 1950, Secretary of State Dean Acheson described a U.S. defensive perimeter in Asia that left out Korea; North Korea invaded that June. Historians still debate how much the speech mattered, but the lesson stuck: ambiguity invites testing. The clearest signal now is a decision on the pending package, explained on its own merits.