For what it’s worth, or not worth, at this point I don’t think the US can be counted on to commit any ships to the defense of the Republic of China in a timely fashion, except, perhaps, a few attack submarines.
I certainly hope they wouldn’t be foolish enough to send one carrier by itself (meaning, of course, without other carriers, but with its own supporting ships), and by the time the they could piece together a suitable force, it would be likely too late to commit it.
Lets face it - the Bush-Clinton-Bush team has gutted the Reagan navy, and a president that won’t even defend the US borders can’t be counted on to defend the ROC borders.
All of that can help the ROCN quickly enough to make a difference.
I believe, short of an absolute disasterous Democratic administration (which sadly is possible), that we will come to the ROCs assistance.
The current USN has far more actual combat capability than the USN in 1988, any way you look at it. Bean-counting numbers of ships doesn't cut it.