Written by Adrienne Wu and Yuchen Lee.
Image credit: Creative Comic Collection booth 20220801b.jpg by 玄史生 / Wikimedia, public domain.
Following the election of a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) minority government in last year’s elections, Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislators have worked to leverage power in the Legislative Yuan to undermine DPP governance and push forward the goals of their parties. Considering that the KMT and DPP hold differing views of Taiwanese identity and the direction of Taiwan’s cultural policy, it is unsurprising that Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture has also become a target of recent budget cuts. While these budget cuts may seem justified from the perspective of KMT legislators who view initiatives such as TaiwanPlus—which began under the tenure of former DPP President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文)—as DPP-led programs, the proposed budget cuts have far-reaching effects on the development of Taiwan’s own cultural industries and undercut Taiwan’s capability for strategic messaging at a time when international outreach is vital.
Overview of the Budget Cuts for the Ministry of Culture
In January 2025, a serious fight broke out in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan over the annual budget. The ruling DPP presented an annual budget of more than 3 trillion, which—comparing it to the requested 2024 budget of 2.8 trillion and the 2023 budget of 2.7 trillion—makes it the highest requested budget in Taiwan’s history. In response, a majority coalition between KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP, proposed record budget cuts against the budget plan prepared by the Executive Yuan, ultimately leading the central government to accuse the opposing parties as “hostile” and causing “great operational difficulties” to the Lai Administration.
In the past decade, the Taiwanese government has placed a growing emphasis on the development of Taiwan’s cultural industries. Efforts by the government include establishing the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA, 文化內容策進院), constructing new venues for cultural activities such as the Taipei Music Center and the Kaohsiung Music Center, and facilitating international exchanges for art talents. As a result, this year, the Ministry of Culture (MOC, 文化部) requested a total budget of NTD $29 billion. Although the proposed amount accounts for less than 1% of the national total budget, it is still the highest cultural budget in history.
The Legislative Yuan eventually passed the MOC budget with cuts of NTD $1.1 billion and freezes of NTD $3.4 billion, reducing the Ministry’s total budget by 15%. Additionally, the cuts were not applied evenly across all of the MOC’s programs. For instance, the MOC’s media and promotional budget was eliminated, with the KMT and TPP contending that the MOC has overextended its publicity spending in the past three years and that the same group of companies too often wins related tenders. The budget for TaiwanPlus, an international English-language media platform that former President Tsai stated would “tell Taiwan’s story,” was cut by 20%, and an additional 30% of the budget was frozen—leading to an overall reduction of 50% of its initial budget. To justify the cuts, KMT legislators highlighted TaiwanPlus’ poor ratings and downloads, as well as controversy over its coverage that referred to President Trump as a “convicted felon.” In one of the KMT proposals, the proposed budget cut for Public Television Service (PTS, 公共電視台) was 100%, with the document asserting that the PTS performed badly as the responsible agency of TaiwanPlus and that its TV series Three Tears in Borneo (聽海湧) tampered the Taiwan history. However, in the end, the proposal was withdrawn following public outcry, and it was replaced with another budget bill that outlined a 1% budget cut and a 25% freeze.
| Category | Cut (%) | Cut (NTD Million) | Freeze (%) | Freeze (NTD Million) |
| Media and Promotional Spending | 100% | 59 | – | – |
| Public Television Service (PTS) | 1% | 23 | 25% | 570 |
| TaiwanPlus | 20% | 200 | 30% | 300 |
| Operational Expenses in various agencies such as the Bureau of Cultural Heritage and Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development | – | – | 30% | – |
| General Administrative Expenses | – | 590 | – | – |
| Joint Archive Storage (聯合典藏庫房） | 100% | 100 | – | – |
Domestic Impacts: Pushback and Development of the Domestic Industry
Recognizing the impact that these budget cuts have on Taiwan’s cultural and creative industries, industry professionals expressed outrage at KMT and TPP proposals to drastically reduce the Ministry of Culture’s budget, especially regarding the proposal to eliminate the budget for PTS. People in the industry publicly expressed their support for the MOC and PTS, underscoring that these agencies have boosted Taiwan’s cultural development by creating opportunities for young artists and subsidizing creative content production. KMT legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) defended the proposals from her party by describing artists and creators who receive government funding and subsidies as “beggars.” Although her remarks were citing another writer’s words, the comments soon elicited an even bigger pushback and artists, writers, and practitioners in the cultural and creative industries initiated petitions that opposed the budget cuts. One petition, launched by the Taipei Comic Artist Labor Union (台北市漫畫從業人員職業工會), was even signed by over 6,500 comic artists and readers. Additionally, after the budget bill was passed, many groups continued to express their dissatisfaction by supporting the subsequent mass recall movement. A joint statement released by the movement argued that the fact that budget proposals were quickly withdrawn or revised due to outrage from the public showed that the cuts were not due to legitimate concerns but were a political attack.
While public pushback successfully reduced some of the cuts, such as the budget cuts to PTS, the remaining budget cuts to media and promotion will still impact domestic businesses and creators. Even though government subsidies have been instrumental in helping develop Taiwan’s cultural industries—as industry professionals have noted when they highlighted the work that MOC and PTS have done to cultivate new talent—creators also need opportunities to showcase their work and find ways to enter the international market. To this end, government initiatives such as the Fresh Taiwan Pavilion, Creative Expo Taiwan, and other international events are important for gaining international connections. However, for events that are seeking to gain international attendees, a media and promotion budget is essential for drawing in new attendees and reaching wider audiences.
For instance, the recently-held Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE) announced that due to the budget cuts they had to cut back on the benefits offered to attendees that help promote book sales. Since much of the planning and promotion had occurred before the budget cuts were issued, the 2025 event was still a success—with roughly 20,000 more attendees than the previous year and some exhibitors reporting a 20-30% increase in sales. However, future events that are held after the budget cuts are enacted will be less likely. In the case of a future TIBE, scaling back the event would negatively impact the opportunities for Taiwanese authors and publishers to make international connections. A 2022 TAICCA report indicated that 91.75% of book-related revenue for Taiwanese publishers came from the domestic market, and another 2022 report indicated that in Taiwan, paperback book sales were on a downward trend. Events such as TIBE, during which 50 publishers from 29 countries and 896 international professionals attended in 2025, can help introduce international publishers to Taiwan’s publishing industry and play a part in bringing Taiwanese cultural products to international markets. However, without a budget for media or promotion, future iterations of the TIBE and similar events, such as the upcoming Osaka World Expo, will have a harder time drawing in attendees and limit opportunities for Taiwanese artists to break into international markets.
International Impact: International Media and Taiwan’s Image
Beyond the impact that these budget cuts will have on domestic cultural and creative industries, the reduced funding for TaiwanPlus also hinders Taiwan’s capacity for strategic international messaging. Launched with the mission of telling Taiwan’s story through its voices, TaiwanPlus is a platform for Taiwan-centric English-language content that is distributed internationally. Since their founding, they have formed distribution partnerships with JioTV (India) and Manamana MYTV (Malaysia) and co-produced shows with global media platforms such as Discovery, ARTE, and VICE. In addition to allowing Taiwanese themselves to shape media about Taiwan, the platform also serves a dual purpose of giving Taiwan agency in a media landscape that Chinese views on Taiwan have long dominated. A 2022 report from Freedom House found that the intensity of Beijing’s media influence efforts increased between 2019 and 2021, with the United States facing a very high level of influence efforts. Not having an English-language platform dedicated to Taiwan content limits Taiwan’s ability to counter the influence of Beijing’s media and the narratives about Taiwan that are contained within.
As a newer media platform, it’s natural that TaiwanPlus faces some scrutiny. At the time of its launch in 2021, TaiwanPlus was intended to be the equivalent of Taiwan’s NHK or BBC—but NHK was established in 1965, and the BBC was established even earlier in 1922. As a result, TaiwanPlus is still in the process of clarifying its role in Taiwan’s media landscape and building up audience trust. Moreover, in the past few years, the platform has worked hard to respond to these challenges. TaiwanPlus’ inclusion in the Public Television Act (公共電視法) has given it further protections from government interference, and TaiwanPlus programs have won a number of international awards, including Best News/Current Affairs Program at the Asian Academy Creative Awards. By reducing TaiwanPlus’ budget, not only will there be less Taiwan-focused English media content, but it will also make it more difficult for TaiwanPlus to maintain its journalistic standards and autonomy—the very thing that lawmakers have criticized them for. If improving journalistic standards is really of concern to the government, the budget for TaiwanPlus should be increased, allowing them to attract and retain experienced journalists and further enhance fact-checking procedures. As Chiaoning Su noted last year following the TaiwanPlus controversy, although Taiwan’s public broadcasting entities have operational independence, they lack any protection if the Legislative Yuan or government agencies decide to exert pressure to undermine their editorial autonomy. The massive and seemingly retaliatory budget cuts levied against TaiwanPlus underscore this point.
Conclusion
The targeted nature of the budget cuts made to Taiwan’s cultural budget—especially the complete elimination of budgets for media and promotion and the large reductions in TaiwanPlus’ budget—raises concerns about future opportunities for Taiwanese creators when it comes to making international connections and limits Taiwan’s media presence internationally. Additionally, using budget cuts in a retaliatory manner runs counter to developing a thriving creative or media ecosystem.
Adrienne Chih-fang Wu is a program manager at the Global Taiwan Institute and the host and producer of Taiwan Salon, GTI’s cultural policy and soft power podcast. She is also a scholar with the UC Berkeley US-Taiwan Next Generation Working Group, a member of the Foreign Policy for America’s Next Gen Initiative, and participated in the German Marshall Fund’s Taiwan-US Policy Program. Before joining GTI, she received a Dual Master’s Degree in International Relations from Ritsumeikan University and Kyunghee University and a BA in Honors East Asian Studies from McGill University.
Yuchen Lee is a Spring 2025 intern at the Global Taiwan Institute. He is currently a master’s student majoring in Global Communications at George Washington University and a Rising Professional Member of the Public Diplomacy Council of America. Yuchen’s research interests include Taiwan’s international relations, soft power, and public diplomacy.
This article was published as part of a special issue on ‘Taiwan’s Budget Crisis’.
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