US Ambassador to China David Perdue revealed that President Donald Trump offered his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to buy American weapons, in a conversation about arms sales that the two leaders brought up in their recent meetings in Washington.

US Ambassador to China David Perdue revealed that President Donald Trump offered his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to buy American weapons, in a conversation about arms sales that the two leaders brought up in their recent meetings in Washington.

Perdue said in an interview that aired on Fox News on Sunday that Trump said Washington was selling weapons to several countries around the world, and at one point he asked Xi if he wanted to buy.

The remarks by the US ambassador to Beijing came after Xi visited the US last week, as the dispute between the two countries over US arms sales to Taiwan is escalating.

On the other hand, White House officials confirmed to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal that Washington does not intend to sell weapons to China, while the US State Department said that the law prohibits such a sale and that there are "no offers or plans" to supply weapons to Beijing.