What Does Taiwan Need From US to Defend Against China?

With the delicate, decades-long stalemate between China and Taiwan seemingly set to crumble at any moment, the island nation has made clear that any hope it has of preventing or prevailing in a war against Beijing will require U.S. assistance – but what exactly does Taiwan need from America, and how might the U.S. benefit from such a tricky alliance?

Getting arms to Taiwan is straightforward enough and would come through the Foreign Military Sales Program. But approval through FMS is a glacial process regardless of which nation is requesting it or how dire the situation is. Routinely, there is a significant reality gap between senior-level bi-lateral meetings and the actual status of these requests with partner countries. Senior officials arrive at bi-lateral thinking things have happened, while the issues are still trapped in the mire of the bureaucracy.