Taiwan's legislature is weighing deep cuts to TaiwanPlus, the island's English-language public broadcaster — and international analysts, former diplomats, and media partners are pushing back hard, warning the move would hand Beijing a strategic advantage in the global competition over narratives.
Ilan Berman, vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC), laid out the stakes in a Forbes commentary published on August 11. The budget debate in Taipei's Legislative Yuan is "far from a purely fiscal matter," he wrote. At stake is whether Taiwan can hold its ground internationally — particularly against Beijing's sustained effort to shape global understanding of cross-strait relations on its own terms.
US Think Tanks Call TaiwanPlus Strategic Infrastructure
Founded in 2021, TaiwanPlus is Taiwan's primary platform for distributing English-language news and cultural content worldwide. Berman noted the broadcaster carries significant weight in academic and policy circles. "TaiwanPlus has a very high profile in the scholarly community studying China and the Indo-Pacific," he said, calling it a credible counterweight to Beijing's version of events.
Derek Mitchell, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and former U.S. ambassador to Myanmar, was equally direct. Most of what the world knows about Taiwan concerns semiconductors and its fraught relationship with China, he said — leaving a wide gap in global understanding of the island's society, history, and culture. "TaiwanPlus filled that gap." With Beijing's military and information campaigns intensifying, he argued, "an international channel is not a luxury for Taiwan — it is strategic infrastructure."
US Business Council, Japan and France Back the Broadcaster
Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan Business Council, called TaiwanPlus an indispensable tool for English-speaking business and policy communities tracking Taiwan's security, commercial, and cultural affairs — and a critical instrument for sustaining the island's engagement with international partners and allies.
The concern spans continents. Mikiko Nakai, senior manager for international affairs at Japan's TV Asahi, a long-standing co-production partner, described TaiwanPlus as "an important bridge connecting Taiwan to the world," enabling deep cultural exchange and durable collaboration. French documentary director Olivier Richard pointed to a co-production with the Franco-German broadcaster ARTE that drew roughly one million viewers in France and Germany — evidence, he said, of what the platform delivers when properly resourced. Lin Chen-yu, an assistant professor at Cardiff University's School of Journalism, Media and Culture, called it "a precious and trusted bridge between Taiwan and the international community at a time when global understanding of Taiwan has never mattered more."
International Media Groups Have Been Raising Alarms for Weeks
The AFPC warning follows earlier statements from Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Public Media Alliance (PMA), and INPUT, the international organization for public television. The accumulating pressure signals that a domestic appropriations fight has drawn far wider international attention than any routine budget dispute.
TaiwanPlus warned that a severe funding freeze would undo years of partnership-building and audience development. Without continued support, the broadcaster said, Taiwan risks ceding ground in the global battle over narratives to those with no interest in representing the island fairly. （Related： Han Kuang 42 | Civilian Trucks Haul Taiwan's Armor North by Night ｜ Latest ）
