Chinese President Xi Jinping pressed US President Donald Trump to 'oppose' Taiwan independence at last week's summit in Washington, according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency. The demand surfaced in coverage dominated by US Ambassador to China David Perdue's Sunday Fox News interview.

Perdue said Trump had asked Xi whether China wanted to buy US weapons. The White House told the New York Times there is no plan to sell weapons to China, and the State Department said US law prohibits arms sales to China and there is 'no offer or plan' to do so.

A proposed new US arms package for Taiwan worth around $14 billion has been on hold for months; Trump previously described it as a 'very good negotiating chip' in dealings with China. Perdue said Trump's Taiwan policy, including on equipment sales, remains unchanged, while Taiwan's deputy foreign minister Chen Ming-chi emphasised the island's security needs amid China's expanding military capabilities.

China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province and opposes US arms sales to it. Washington maintains strategic ambiguity but is committed under the Taiwan Relations Act to supplying defensive equipment, leaving the stalled $14 billion package as a key item to watch after the summit.