Taiwan's defense minister says that they still want submarines:
The minister said Taiwan has been pushing the US to sell it diesel-powered submarines for some time but Washington has yet to approve the deal.
The military is also weighing other options, including studying the feasibility of building diesel-electric submarines itself, he added.
That great. But we can't sell Taiwan diesel-electric subs because we don't build them and the Navy doesn't want to have the capability to build them lest they be ordered to make do with cheaper (but less capable) diesel-electrics in place of some number of our nuclear boats. So what exactly is the point of saying they are "pushing" us, other than providing a convenient excuse to not spend the money on them?
Oh, maybe Taiwan could buy some used subs from some broke European power (hello, Greece) assuming that they can get the builders to approve the transfer (hello, Germany).
Or maybe Russian worry about rising Chinese land and air power will convince Russia to sell decent subs to Taiwan in order to keep China looking out to sea.
But with countries like North Korea and Iran building their own (admittedly, small and primitive) subs, why can't Taiwan develop that capability? They are developing other military technology to substitute for imports that China increasingly limits by pressuring producing nations (even America, I'm ashamed to say).
Taiwan should have been building up their capacity to build subs for the last 12 years--or more. Get those blueprints and start cracking the books. Start small and keep improving. That's the only sure way Taiwan can get submarines.
