Relations between China and the United States have deteriorated further in recent days, when the State Department announced that the United States would provide technological assistance to help Taiwan, to build 8 conventionally powered submarines, this announcement following the support of US senators for the sale of F35B to Taipei. These tensions are added to those linked to trade measures concerning the taxation of steel and aluminum imported into the United States, and which mainly affect China.
While Chinese pressure had succeeded in preventing massive technology transfers from the West to Taiwan for more than 20 years, the repeated tensions between China and the United States and more broadly the West, such as the construction of naval bases and air strikes in the China Sea, will have favored the American decision.
That said, if the US industry can assist the Taiwanese industry with regard to the detectors and weapon systems of its submarines, it is incapable of extending this assistance in terms of propulsion, and in particular for the devices anaerobic AIP allowing submersibles to extend their diving duration. This technology is only mastered by a few European, Japanese and Korean companies. It therefore remains to be seen whether the American decision will lead to an alignment of one or more of its allies to support the Taiwanese defense effort.