Arms exports

Trump Offered to Sell US Weapons to China, Says Envoy

Is this a betrayal of allies and strategy or overheated hysteria about a remark no one is acting on?

1 day ago·Updated 15 hours ago

Trump Offered to Sell US Weapons to China, Says Envoy

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Above: Donald Trump and Melania Trump with Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, in Washington, DC, on Sept. 25. Image credit: Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post/Getty Images

The Spin

Anti-Trump narrative

Dangling U.S. weapons before Beijing while a congressionally approved package to Taiwan sits frozen is a betrayal of allies and of basic strategy. Arming the chief supplier and protector of hostile regimes hands adversaries the tools that will eventually end up pointed back at U.S. troops. National security should never be treated as another deal to be haggled over.

Christopher David on X

Edward Wong on X

Pro-Trump narrative

Treating an offhand remark as settled policy is hysteria, since no arms transfer to Beijing is remotely in motion. The old Cold War framing has outlived its usefulness anyway, and the real contest with China is economic, where leverage and opportunity actually exist. Diplomacy that keeps every option on the table beats permanent confrontation.

China Uncensored on X

Richard Fontaine on X

Metaculus Prediction

There is a 70% chance that Taiwan will receive direct military support from allied nations if there are 100 deaths in conflict between China and Taiwan before 2050, according to the Metaculus prediction community.