By Ross Darrell Feingold
(AI-generated image via KHT Staff prompt)
Readers and audiences in Taiwan who have read this author’s previous commentaries, or seen this author on the radio or television in Taiwan, will be aware of his concerns about the frequent mistakes that foreign journalists and foreign scholars make when writing about Taiwan in English.
For example, in a previous column in The China Times, this author exposed a false claim made in an English-language report in the Taipei Times in 2018 that China would spend NT$35 billion (over US$1 billion) to subvert that year’s local elections. This fake news was subsequently repeated in reports authored by foreign scholars.
How did we determine that was false? We asked both the Ministry of the Interior National Police Administration, and the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau, about the NT$35 billion amount that the Taipei Times reported. The reply from these two agencies was that they have no such intelligence, and that the Taipei Times report is speculation.
Recently, the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank in Washington DC, published a report about developments in Taiwan. This report is another reminder about how often foreign scholars write incorrect things about Taiwan.
First, the America Enterprise Institute report discusses the recent investigation by authorities in Taiwan into the social media posts by celebrities from Taiwan who maintain social media accounts on social media platforms in China, and whether the celebrities violated Article 33-1, Paragraph 1, of the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area that prohibits cooperation with China’s “political parties, the military, the administration or of any political nature, or which are involved in any political work against Taiwan or affect national security or interests.”
The celebrities were issued a warning, but no penalties were imposed.
The American Enterprise Institute report states that three of the celebrities “were found to hold PRC citizenship”. The American Enterprise Institute cites as its source for this claim a report in the Liberty Times.
However, the Liberty Times report does not say three of the celebrities were found to hold Chinese citizenship.
What the Liberty Times article says, is that three of the celebrities were found to have dual citizenship, with one of those three being a dual citizen of Taiwan and Canada. The article does not say what the second citizenship is of the two other celebrities. However, the phrase used in the Liberty Times article, “雙重國籍” (dual nationality) is typically used to describe a holder of Taiwan and a foreign nationality but is typically not used to describe someone who illegally holds China and Taiwan nationality. For example, a recent article in Taiwan’s Central News Agency used the term “雙重身分” (dual identity) to describe someone who illegally holds China and Taiwan identification documents.
The next significant error in the American Enterprise Institute report is that “President William Lai Ching-te has pushed to raise Taiwan’s defense budget past five percent of its GDP by 2050”.
In fact, on August 22, President Lai posted in English on his X social media account that “we are also aiming to achieve 5% of GDP by 2030”. This was reported in international English media such as Bloomberg and Reuters, as well as many others. Of course, it was also reported in major Taiwan media on that day as well.
Everyone makes minor mistakes, including this author. However, the American Enterprise Institute report has the names of 10 authors. Surely one of those ten authors should have noticed the mistake before the article was published?
Finally, the American Enterprise Institute report discusses the recent release on bail of former Taipei City Mayor, and former Taiwan People’s Party Chairman, Ko Wen-je. The American Enterprise Institute writes that “Ko and the TPP have argued that he is innocent and blamed the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of persecuting him, even though Ko’s prosecution is occurring while Taipei is governed by the KMT, the DPP’s chief opposition”.
This paragraph reveals a complete lack of knowledge about Taiwan’s judicial system. City and county governments in Taiwan do not control prosecutors. Prosecutors in Taiwan work for an agency within the central government’s Ministry of Justice.
The Taiwan People’s Party accuses the Democratic Progressive Party-led central government of persecuting Ko, but the American Enterprise Institute has incorrectly written that Ko is being prosecuted by prosecutors controlled by a mayor from the Kuomintang.
Even if the American Enterprise Institute corrects this mistake, many people would have already read this report, and have an incorrect understanding about the political situation in Taiwan.
Who benefits from these kinds of mistakes in foreign commentaries about Taiwan?
The American Enterprise Institute does not make public the names of its donors, so there is now way to know whether the Taiwan government is currently a donor. However, in 2013 a list of donors accidentally became public, and included the government of Taiwan.
Is the Taiwan government still a donor to the American Enterprise Institute?
Regardless of whether the Taiwan government is a donor to the American Enterprise Institute, isn’t it the responsibility of Taiwan’s diplomats at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office to maintain relations with think tanks and scholars in Washington DC, to read the publications about Taiwan that think tanks publish, and, if there are errors, to contact the think tank and correct those errors?
Taiwan is often in the international news for several reasons. This includes the continued worsening in relations between Taiwan and China, the increases in Taiwan’s defense budget, and the role of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry in the rapidly growing artificial intelligence industry. In addition, next year, Taiwan will hold local elections in November, and 14 months afterwards, in January 2028, Taiwan will hold the presidential and Legislative Yuan elections.
Taiwan will continue to be a topic that foreign media and scholars write about.
Unfortunately, many of these materials will have errors, or even fake news. Who benefits from this?
In this author’s opinion, it certainly does not make Taiwan safer when foreign media or scholars make these mistakes, regardless of what their motivations might be.
Note: This article first appeared in The China Times on September 20, 2025. Image via @RossFeingold. As of writing, only the incorrect reference to 2050 was revised to 2030.
About the Author:
Ross Darrell FEINGOLD (方恩格) is the head of research at risk consultancy Caerus Consulting and a special counsel to Titan Attorneys-at-Law. He is an expert in trade policy, regulatory matters, and international relations who advises corporations, investors, and non-profit organizations throughout Asia on due diligence, political risk, and business development. Mr. Feingold authors the “Taiwan Politics Review” monthly column for the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan, teaches “American Foreign Policy” at Tamkang University, and is a policy adviser to the Taipei City Government. Mr. Feingold is a frequent commentator for Al-Jazeera, Channel News Asia, NewsX, Radio Free Asia, Radio Television Hong Kong, and Voice of America, among other media networks, and he has previously hosted programs in English and Mandarin in Taiwan. Mr. Feingold is a director of The Association of Americans Resident Overseas, a non-partisan advocacy group for the millions of overseas American citizens. In this capacity, he meets with the U.S. government and Congressmen to advocate for expatriates on tax and banking issues. Mr. Feingold was the founding chairman of The Chabad Taipei Jewish Center, and earlier served as the Asia chairman of Republicans Abroad, the international organization of the Republican Party. Mr. Feingold speaks Mandarin and first lived in Asia in 1994, and subsequently has lived in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan.
