They are there to protect our shipping and to convey a message to counter the growing Imperialist actions of the CCP Dictatorship claiming Tiwanese and International waters as their splash pond.
(Last time I checked, we won Taiwan (Formosa) from Japan at the end of WWII, and rather than ruling it as a protectorate territory we set it free. We have a more recent claim to Taiwan than the running dogs of the CCP, which i do not think existed at when we declared its independence.)
So let me see if I understand this. We're spending money to send our Coast Guard to defend our interests from the same country that we sent our manufacturing, technology, money, and tax base to in order to save money.
Am I the only one who can see something wrong with this?