[Llarry]

Taiwan's navy -- the Republic of China Navy -- is, like all the other Taiwan armed services, greatly outnumbered by the mainland Chinese forces. They've got some modern fleet units, though, as well as some old relics.

The pride of the ROCN is probably the four Keelung class missile destroyers. These four ships were originally ordered by the Shah of Iran's Navy before the Iranian revolution; they were taken over by the U.S. Navy as DDGs upon completion, and transferred to Taiwan some years ago.

The Navy also includes a number of frigates and smaller combatants such as corvettes and missile boats. I would think that if the Chinese come, they will be quickly overwhelmed.

Given the huge Chinese submarine force, the obvious deficiency of the ROCN is submarines; they have only two. I would think that Chinese submarines would surround the island in large numbers in the event of hostilities, although I'm not aware of any Chinese submarine-launched cruise missiles.

The ROCN also possesses a number of ancient ex-WW2 landing ships; I suspect this is more the idea of "we can invade you, too" rather than any realistic capability. There is a robust ROC Marine Corps, though.

The current U.S. Commander-in-Chief has stated that the U.S. will aid Taiwan if attacked by China, so that tilts the balance a lot, but will that continue to be the policy of future administrations?