Once Asia's trendsetter, Taiwan pop culture now struggles to stay seen

The Taiwanese Wave of the 1990s and 2000s captured Asia's imagination. It now risks being eclipsed by China and other pop culture powerhouses.

- Yip Wai Yee

When Taiwanese former boy band F4 emerged onstage for a surprise reunion at pop-rock band Mayday's Taipei concert in July, netizens across Asia went wild. The excitement went beyond the Mandarin-speaking world. Ecstatic fans in the Philippines and Thailand eagerly reposted video clips of their appearance on Instagram and TikTok. Never mind that the group sang only two songs.

The brief but viral moment sparked a wave of nostalgia, and reminded audiences that before the Korean Wave took over the world in the late-2000s, Taiwanese pop culture was king.

F4 was formed following the immense success of TV series Meteor Garden (2001), which its members starred in. Adapted from a Japanese manga series, the idol drama was essential viewing for many Asian households and quickly became a cultural touchstone across the region.

Other Taiwanese television shows such as Justice Pao (1993) and My MVP Valentine (2002) were also regional hits, while songs by Taiwanese pop stars including Jay Chou, A-mei and Jolin Tsai were go-tos in countless karaoke sessions.

They were all essential components of the "Taiwanese Wave", the surge in Taiwanese entertainment exports that defined the 1990s and early 2000s.

Today, however, Taiwan struggles to produce a single new cultural export with comparable regional impact — while China has rolled out hit after hit, from box-office hits like Ne Zha 2 (2025) and blockbuster video game Black Myth: Wukong to Pop Mart's Labubu toys and Chagee milk tea.

This raises a bigger question: Could Taiwan's waning cultural influence foreshadow its broader geopolitical decline? If Taiwan can no longer capture the Asian imagination, can it still shape Asian geopolitics?

As Mr Nik Foster, a non-resident fellow at US think-tank Atlantic Council, wrote in an August brief: "Expanded cultural diplomacy is not merely possible — it is essential for Taiwan's long-term engagement with the world."