Keeping Up with Taiwan — English-Language Sources and Legit Experts to Follow to Learn about Taiwan
- Vickie Yu-ping Wang
- 23 hours ago
- 8 min read
Updated: 55 minutes ago
My friends—Taiwanese American or simply curious worldly folk—have often said that they struggle to find good English-language resources on Taiwan to keep up with the news. There's also been a frustrating trend of previously unknown "Taiwan experts" popping up all over the internet with their click-bait hot takes that overshadow the good work that's done by researchers, journalists, and thinkers who are actually on the ground and/or have extensive experience in Taiwan.
I compiled a list of recommended sources that I've come to trust and rely on for clear-eyed insights on Taiwan. Please comment and share your favorite sources that I missed and I'll update accordingly.
Last Updated: January 6, 2026
News & Explainers—English-language sources on Taiwan
New Bloom Magazine – Youth politics/activism analysis, left-leaning. Founding Editor Brian Hioe files stories very fast.
TaiwanPlus – government-funded, public service English network: rolling news, docs, culture explainers, lots on YouTube. They're overseen by the Ministry of Culture in Taiwan and the reporting is skews positive. I was featured on it a couple of times so I'm a little biased lol The production quality is... uneven, but worth a follow on YouTube and Instagram.
Focus Taiwan (CNA) – underappreciated, wire-style coverage; useful for quick facts; active YouTube.
CommonWealth English – Taiwan-based magazine offering in-depth reporting on politics, business, society, and culture, with strong local context for international readers.
Taipei Times – Taiwan’s major English daily (editorials & “Taiwan in Time” history).
Taiwan Insight—University of Nottingham – Taiwan studies scholars writing for general readers.
Global Taiwan Institute (GTI) / Global Taiwan Brief – policy-focused analyses; good for US-Taiwan policy context.
The Diplomat—Taiwan section – regional, security-focused coverage.
Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA)– A U.S.-based advocacy group that works directly with Congress to pass pro-Taiwan laws and strengthen U.S. support for Taiwan’s democracy and security. I joined their National Advocacy Conference in Washington D.C. in September 2025.
People to follow — experts, journalists, creatives
To quote my friend Lev, "it's never been easier to claim to be a Taiwan expert." A lot of think pieces and op-eds are written by people with no deep regional expertise, never lived in Taiwan, or don't speak the language (not a deal breaker! But a barrier for sure). Here are some actual voices you can trust.
Lev Nachman – political scientist (parties, movements, elections) with crisp, myth-busting threads on Twitter and Threads, gets rightfully quoted a lot in international media and a personal friend of mine 😉 Lev's been studying Taiwan since 2012, definitely not one of those 半路出家, carpetbagger “Taiwan experts.” He's published two books, Contested Taiwan and Taiwan: A Democracy Under Threat are both worth reading.
Michelle Kuo and Albert Wu – Lawyer and historian power couple based in Taiwan, their Substack A Broad and Ample Road contains some of the most nuanced insights on Taiwan politics. Michelle has also written one of my all-time favorite books, Reading with Patrick—not about Taiwan, but her thoughts on Asian American identity and the power of the written word? Chef's kiss.
Brian Hioe – founding editor of aforementioned New Bloom, part of the Sunflower student movement, writes on movements/identity and is a very fast journalist. I've seen him file a story from his laptop sitting on the ground right after a rally. Doesn't seem to sleep.
Nathan F. Batto – must-read election analysis on Frozen Garlic; research fellow at Academia Sinica.
William H. Yang – Senior NE Asia Analyst, International Crisis Group, active on Twitter; formerly a Taiwan correspondent.
Helen Davison – Formerly Taipei-based journalist for The Guardian who covered Taiwan, China, and the Indo-Pacific, with strong reporting on cross-Strait tensions, democracy, and human rights. She recently left Taiwan 🥲 but her body of work is awesome.
Bethany Allen –Head of China Investigations for Australian Strategic Policy Institute; China and Taiwan analyst and journalist, author of the book Beijing Rules, known for sharp analysis of CCP influence, disinformation, and Taiwan’s geopolitical role.
Emily Y. Wu – co-founder, Ghost Island Media; host/producer bridging Taiwan & global audio.
Peter Mattis – President of the Jamestown Foundation and an expert on the Chinese Communist Party’s information operations, political warfare, and intelligence activities, drawing on deep experience across U.S. intelligence, Congress, and China-focused policy research.
Kharis Templeman – Hoover Institution; elections, parties, US-Taiwan policy.
Bonnie S. Glaser – Managing director of German Marshall Fund's Indo Pacific Program; US-China-Taiwan security & policy. Active on Twitter.
Vickie Wang (It's me, hi 👋🏻) – shameless plug for my Substack Happy Medium and my New York Times op-eds about Taiwan's #MeToo movement and what another Trump presidency means for Taiwan (gift links, free to read).
Fact-Checking, Disinformation & Info-Ops
Taiwan doesn't just have to deal with "bad takes." We are the top global target for massive, organized disinformation, sustained campaigns (mostly from the CCP) meant to wear people down and make them lose trust in Taiwan’s democracy and its allies. The groups below are basically the first responders to this cognitive warfare, some of which I encountered while researching how GenAI impact democratic elections (you can read about it on my Substack).
They do everything from debunking lies in real-time to mapping out the bot armies used to weaponize information against the public.
Global Taiwan Institute (GTI) – Think tank producing clear, policy-focused analysis on Taiwan, cross-Strait relations, and Indo-Pacific security.
Doublethink Lab – Taiwan-based research lab tracking PRC influence operations, disinformation campaigns, and information warfare through reports and visual tools.
Taiwan FactCheck Center (TFC) – Independent fact-checking organization providing real-time debunks, media literacy resources, and election-related verification; IFCN signatory.
IORG – Research group analysing information operations targeting Taiwan, focusing on attribution, narratives, and strategic intent rather than day-to-day fact-checking.
Election Study Center NCCU – Gold-standard polling and long-term trend data on national identity, party identification, and electoral attitudes in Taiwan.
Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) – Democracy foundation supporting civil society, counter-disinformation efforts, and international democratic engagement.
Protect Your Parents from Disinformation
For Taiwanese Americans, one of the best things you can do is help your parents follow Cofacts and the Taiwan FactCheck Center on LINE, the messaging app most popular among Taiwanese people. Both allow users to forward suspicious messages directly to these LINE bots to see if a claim has been fact-checked. They are simple tools that give Chinese-speaking elders, especially those living in linguistic isolation overseas, a first line of defense against fake news.
Books
I have my favorites, but Tricky Taipei has already curated an amazing selection on Instagram @littletrickybooks so find your next read there! Pro tip: Request the Taiwan books you want to read with your local library!
Hey Taipei by Kathy Cheng– A rhyming picture book that takes kids on a fun, adventurous tour of Taipei, celebrating the city’s food, landmarks, and everyday life while helping Taiwanese culture feel familiar and joyful in English.
Revolutionary Taiwan by Catherine Lila Chou and Mark Harrison – Introduces four competing ways of understanding Taiwan’s history and identity: Indigenous sovereignty, Japanese colonial-era identity formation, the KMT’s Cold War “anti-Communist bastion,” and the post-democratization emergence of a distinct Taiwanese nationhood.
Green Island by Shawna Yang Ryan – A multigenerational novel that traces the legacy of the White Terror and political repression in Taiwan, showing how authoritarian violence shapes family memory, identity, and silence across decades. A must-read especially for waishengren like myself.
Daughters of Shandong by Eve J. Chung – Another waishengren must-read that I couldn't put down until 5:30am. A family memoir of displacement following the Chinese Civil War, a visceral account of the mass exodus that echoed my own family history. Her new book The Young Will Remember is available for pre-order!
The Great Exodus from China by Dominic Meng-Hsuan Yang – Again, you can see my recommendations skew waisheng, so go check out Little Tricky Books and comment your favorites please! The study of the post-1949 mass exodus to Taiwan, examining how the trauma of forced migration shaped the identities and collective memory of mainlander refugees in Taiwan.
To Be read
Homeseeking by Karissa Chen – a multigenerational novel about war, displacement, and the long search for home across China, Taiwan, and the diaspora.
Ghost Nation by Chris Horton – a sharp, accessible look at Taiwan’s democracy, identity, and geopolitical reality, written by a longtime Taiwan-based journalist who understands both local politics and how Taiwan is misread abroad.
Feeling Asian American by Wen Liu – I attended a New School lecture where Wen Liu presented the research from this book, a personal and political exploration of Asian American identity and belonging, bridging diaspora experience with questions of power, history, and solidarity.
Other Fun Stuff
Invisible Nation directed by Vanessa Hope – A rare documentary that manages to make Taiwan’s complicated democratic history legible in under two hours—without flattening it or talking down to the audience. The film traces Taiwan’s democratic evolution and international marginalization with sharp storytelling. Directed by a filmmaker, Vanessa Hope, who has spent years living in and reporting on Taiwan, it reflects deep regional knowledge and long-term commitment to the subject. Monthly virtual screenings are available, with a PBS broadcast coming in May 2026.
Taiwan Bar / 臺灣吧 – witty animated explainers on Taiwan’s history & culture in Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese, all with English subtitles.
TaiwaneseAmerican.org – diaspora stories, interviews, community guides. I wrote about Taiwanese identity for them and here's the Chinese version.
TAP (Taiwanese American Professionals) – local chapters nationwide for events & community.
Yun Hai Taiwan Stories – A Substack exploring Taiwanese food, culture, and everyday life, written by the Taiwanese American founder Lisa Cheng Smith.
Bopomofo Cafe – Taiwan-inspired café and brand blending coffee, tea, elevated snacks, and design that draws on Taiwanese heritage and bicultural creativity, now with multiple California locations.
Taiwan Pride in NYC – Community group celebrating Taiwanese LGBTQ+ identity and visibility in New York City, I walked with them in 2025 and the ✨vibes✨ were immaculate.
Jason Cheny 陳士駿 – Born and raised in Taiwan and re-raised in the U.S., Jason Cheny turns the friction of two cultures into goofy, intentional stand-up that calls out family and social absurdities. Watch his special Taiwanese American Human on YouTube.
Kuan-wen Huang 黃冠文 – London-based comedian from Taiwan, sassy as all hell. He's met our former President Tsai Ing-wen and I am very, very envious.
I don't have to list myself again here, right? You know I do comedy? Good good.
Who’s recommending all this, anyway?
I’ll keep updating this list as recommendations come in, so feel free to share sources I missed. If you've stumbled upon this article and are now wondering "who does she think she is to be recommending things?"
I’m Vickie Wang 王宇平, a Taiwanese writer, comedian, and interpreter based in New York City. I grew up in Taipei and moved to Shanghai at 27, then New York City in May 2024. No, I didn't go to Taipei American School. My parents are both English teachers so I sound like I grew up in California，但我是正港的台灣人。I write a Substack called Happy Medium, I post cat videos on Instagram, and I do stand-up wherever they let me—go to my Linktree for upcoming shows.
Thank you for reading, and for caring about getting Taiwan right.
