Hu is a Taiwanese American who retired from the U.S. Air Force as a lieutenant colonel. During his military career he served as chief of the China, Taiwan, and Mongolia desk at Air Force headquarters, and went on to become the first Chinese American senior country director for the same portfolio at the Pentagon. When the Defense Department established a standalone Taiwan desk in 2006, Hu became its inaugural senior director; the following year he was posted to AIT in Taipei as deputy chief of the Office of Defense Cooperation.

After retiring from government service in 2011 he served as Taiwan country manager for Raytheon until 2021, and has since resided in Taiwan. His case is strategic rather than operational: the offer itself carries the value, not the deployment.

"Taiwan has a slogan: 'Taiwan can help,'" Hu said. "If Taiwan goes to Trump right now and says, 'We can send two minesweepers' — whether or not the U.S. accepts, Taiwan will win points with Trump. It shows that when so many countries wouldn't help, Taiwan said it could."

He went further: "Taiwan can tell Trump: we'll send two minesweepers and a supply ship. America will remember. Trump will remember."

Hu described the current moment as a rare opening for Taiwan on the global stage — one from which it is normally excluded when major international events unfold. From a practical standpoint, he acknowledged that Washington is unlikely to actually accept a Taiwanese military deployment. But given Trump's personality, he said, the gesture would register.

"On the surface, you need a reason — something like, 'We also depend on this oil,'" he said. "Otherwise you have no justification for going to help the Americans. That's why I think this opportunity should not be wasted."

Hu said the United States made a significant misstep before launching operations against Iran: it decommissioned all four Avenger-class minesweepers that had been forward-deployed at the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain. Those vessels were retired in September 2025 and shipped back to the continental United States aboard civilian semi-submersible transports in January of this year.

As a result, the U.S. Navy currently has no minesweeping capability in the Persian Gulf.

Reports that two Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) recently spotted in Penang, Malaysia, might be redirected to mine countermeasure operations in the Gulf are unlikely to pan out, Hu said. While the LCS was designed with a modular minesweeping capability, the two vessels in Malaysia are not equipped with the required modules.

​The U.S. Navy has dispatched two module-equipped LCS vessels from San Diego, California. Their route requires transiting the Panama Canal, crossing the Atlantic, entering the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and proceeding toward the Strait of Hormuz. Military vessels are not exempt from queuing at either canal — even U.S. aircraft carriers have had to wait their turn at the Suez Canal.

​Hu estimated the voyage would take more than twenty days from California under favorable conditions — and potentially a month or more if canal delays occur. Taiwan's minesweepers, by contrast, could reach the Middle East in seven to ten days.

Taiwan is not without relevant assets. According to the Republic of China Navy's official website and publicly available information, the navy currently operates six mine countermeasure vessels: two Yungching-class minehunters acquired from the United States and four Yungfeng-class minesweepers purchased from Germany.

Hu also pointed to Taiwan's existing track record of blue-water operations. The navy conducts annual long-range goodwill deployments known as the Dunmu (敦睦) fleet. The 2026 Dunmu fleet departed in late February and visited Taiwan's ally the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific last week. Reports indicate this year's deployment has been extended to 112 days — with the fleet returning in early June — suggesting it may also transit the Panama Canal to visit diplomatic partners in Central America.

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