7th Fleet Focus: Tawain Wants AEGIS, Again

The reality is, these guys are all over the map with their military purchasing, I think all of us are still waiting for those SSKs for Taiwan that were going to be built in Connecticut. I almost think we should ignore this latest request by Taiwan for AEGIS destroyers.

Taiwan wants to buy at least six Aegis-equipped destroyers from the United States at a cost of more than $4.6 billion, a newspaper said on Monday, a plan sure to anger China which claims the island as its own.

The United Daily News quoted unnamed sources as saying Deputy Defense Minister Ko Cheng-heng and Chief of the General Staff Chen Yung-kang would travel to the United States this month to try to secure the deal.

There are so many places to go with this, but all of it would be a waste of breathe. Which AEGIS destroyers would we sell Taiwan? Four of the Block I's in the Pacific which all have been converted to Ballistic Missile Defense. Would we sell them 4 Block I's in the Atlantic which haven't been converted to Ballistic Missile Defense? If you ask me, we should sell the retired CG-47s before selling an Arleigh Burke class, if for no other reason because the Navy can't afford to drop to even fewer numbers of ships right now.

Nothing about this can end up good, the US needs to walk away from this and not look back.