Pakistan, Sept. 29 -- President Donald Trump has asked Chinese President Xi Jinping if he wanted to buy weapons from the United States, the US ambassador to China said.

David Perdue said Trump raised the prospect of the arms sales from the US to its ascendant geopolitical rival, an unlikely offer that if consummated would upend generations of US policy toward China and Taiwan and expose US technology to a potential foe. Perdue, speaking to Shannon Bream on Fox News Channel's "Fox News Sunday" days after Trump hosted Xi for a state visit in Washington, didn't specify when the offer was made.

Perdue said Sunday that Trump, a Republican, was downplaying longstanding US arms sales to Taiwan - which have drawn protest from Beijing for years ...