I'm not sure that such weapons not being nuclear is quite as dramatic a distinguishing characteristic as people think it is. Neither the PRC nor the ROC have any interest in dropping nukes on population centers, and the fleet-destroyer use is the obvious use case.
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The only issue is the MOAB is not currently deliverable except kicking it out the back of a big bomber. So getting a better delivery mechanism would be important.
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My point in all of this is simple: If you don't want to fight a war over Taiwan, fine. I get it. But pulling out will still end in a war with China (over the Senkakus) and with nuclear proliferation (SK and JP, maybe even others).
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Which means that you're way better off establishing a sufficiently credible deterrent in Taiwan that China won't try it, and that maximizes the number of parties on our side of things.
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My preferred solution for this is to offer a base to Taiwan with US troops permanently stationed there, and formal inclusion of Taiwan within the security guarantees we offer SK and JP. But I understand a lot of people dislike this.
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It endangers American lives directly and extends our commitments. Okay then, the next best solution is to give Taiwan credible self-defense capabilities. That means bombs they can deliver AFTER having lost air dominance which have the capacity to knock out an invasion fleet.
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Maybe you've got an idea on how to do that with conventional weapons. But nuclear weapons are the obvious answer.
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Also, the US is pursuing conventional solutions that are EXTREMELY concerning. Specifically, the US has been advancing remote and long-range deployment of stealth maritime mines with large conventional yields.
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Folks, the actual serious alternative to "give Taiwan nukes" is "invent a new generation of oceanic mines we can toss out and have avoid detection and then blow up at opportune times." Which is to say, it'll be a nightmarish postwar landmine-esque problem.
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In a shipping channel with absolutely massive amounts of civilian traffic, I might add.
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how about we combined these bad ideas to make nuke mines
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