It is Time for Journalists to Update the Taiwan Boilerplate

In June, US President Donald J. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping engaged in a long-awaited call during which the topic of Taiwan was briefly discussed. In a news report that followed, BBC described Taiwan in a peculiar manner: “China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that will eventually be reunified, and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve this.” While the use of boilerplate language when reporting on Taiwan has become standard practice, the British broadcaster’s statement reinforces a narrative that characterizes Taiwan as an insubordinate threat. Over time, an ostensibly innocent editorial choice can lead to a distorted view of the situation.

News organizations have not broken the habit of referring to Taiwan as a “renegade province,” a phrase that stirred the ire of Foreign Policy’s former Asia editor Isaac Stone Fish in 2016. For many years, Taiwan has been understood through the lens of the Chinese Communist Party’s territorial ambitions. It is customary for news outlets—from the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal—to repeat politically charged descriptions such as "rogue territory” or “renegade island" when describing Taiwan to millions of readers. Less often do editors include statements reflective of how other democracies see Taiwan, or conversely, how Taiwan addresses its neighbor.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, international news coverage of Taiwan was fairly limited. Dwindling resources meant editors made difficult decisions about which topics to cover and how to cover them, sometimes from hundreds of miles away. On May 17, 2019, when Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, correspondents broke the news to readers across the globe not from the streets of Taipei, but from their bureaus in Hong Kong and Beijing.

It is the nature of journalists to go towards crises and danger. No news is good news, most of the time. For better or worse, Taiwan had not been on the radar of foreign news editors with the exception of occasional headlines about watershed moments such as the 2014 Sunflower movement. But around 2019, the language correspondents used when reporting on Taiwan began to change. A combination of factors largely outside Taiwan’s control led to an uptick in the presence of foreign press and the volume of international news articles written from Taipei. 

First, trade tensions between US and China under the first Trump administration reignited fears that Taiwan would become a flash point. Critics warned that Taiwan could be reduced to a “chess piece” or “bargaining chip” in what experts called a new cold war. As competition between the US and China intensified, the question of Taiwan’s status became a more prominent talking point in the media.

Then in 2019, after mass demonstrations erupted in Hong Kong against a proposed bill that would allow extraditions to mainland China, President Tsai Ing-wen presented Taiwan as a counterexample. In the wake of the protests, she hailed Taiwan as a “beacon of democracy” and emphasized the importance of the democratic freedoms the Taiwanese enjoy. She voiced support for the Hong Kong protestors and connected the plight of the people of Hong Kong to Taiwan’s own existential threat. “Today Hong Kong, Tomorrow Taiwan” was a message that reverberated throughout her re-election campaign in 2020, which she ultimately won. 

When the pandemic hit, Taiwan’s early action and effective response surprised the world. Foreign media praised Taiwan for its success in containing the coronavirus despite its proximity to China. Though excluded from the World Health Organization, Taiwan proved it could thrive against the odds. When the spread of the virus exacerbated supply chain challenges, many recognized the extent to which the world relied on Taiwan’s semiconductors.

Following the Hong Kong democracy movement and protests in 2020, foreign correspondents based there began reporting new challenges in their work. Most notably, journalists faced delays or outright rejections of visa renewal requests. Some relocated to other hubs in Asia following the passage of the controversial national security law in the city. Still more found themselves expelled or denied entry into mainland China during the pandemic. This led to an exodus of foreign media from Beijing and Hong Kong into Seoul, Singapore, and Taipei. 

According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as of November 2023, there were 174 journalists working for 82 international news organizations registered in Taiwan. This was nearly twice as much as was reported just four years earlier. In her second term, Tsai doubled down on her diplomatic efforts, courting foreign delegations and drawing attention to Taiwan. This was aided by structural changes in news operations in the region and geopolitical developments that boosted Taiwan’s strategic importance. 

Despite these developments, which should have presented an opportunity for more nuanced and inclusive on-the-ground reporting, news coverage of Taiwan often remains one-dimensional and repetitive. Most articles produced about Taiwan fall into two broad categories: Taiwan’s technology and its security. Important as these topics may be, they oversimplify Taiwan into its prized semiconductor chips and military value for Washington and Beijing.

The relationship between the US, China, and Taiwan continues to define the stories that are told about Taiwan, and by extension, the world’s perception of the island. As sensational headlines about Taiwan circulate, they can set off a feedback loop that reinforces the idea that war across the Taiwan Strait is imminent. By continuing to define Taiwan predominantly through the context of US-China relations, the international news media may well be contributing to the perceived inevitability of a conflict that must be resolved “by force if necessary.” 

The language with which Taiwan is discussed should be deliberate and precise. As foreign correspondents expand their coverage of Taiwan, they should take ownership of the role they play in shaping opinions and determining the outcome of the region. Words still might turn the fate of Taiwan around.

This article was previously published on CommoWealth Magazine on July, 22 2025.