Chinese companies are catering to real market demand but continue to clash with local regulations, raising concerns about political interference.
The Chinese online platforms Alibaba (via its e-commerce site Taobao), Pinduoduo, and TikTok are stepping up their presence in Taiwan as the appetite of Taiwanese consumers for inexpensive online goods and, in TikTok’s case, short-form videos grows.
E-commerce transactions in Taiwan reached NT$1.8 trillion (US$55.85 billion) in 2024, 1.7 times higher than in 2019, according to National Credit Card Center data. While cross-border transactions account for just 10% of the overall, they jumped about 93% from 2019 to 2024 and exceeded NT$100 billion annually from 2022 to 2024.
Less publicly available data exists for the online video market, but analysts say it is growing fast. “Video content is on a steep rise in Taiwan, with many users engaging with it on platforms such as YouTube and TikTok for entertainment and education,” Singapore-based language service provider EC Innovations said in a January research note.
Because of its Chinese ownership, TikTok has attracted enormous attention in Taiwan, but it remains a minor player here compared to its international competitors. Research by the semigovernmental Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC) shows that Taiwanese users still primarily enjoy social video content on YouTube (91.8%), Facebook (71.4%), and Instagram (43.8%). TikTok ranks fourth most popular at 19.6%. “This indicates that TikTok is not yet a major platform for most Taiwanese viewers,” says a spokesperson from MIC’s Software Industry Research Center.
Regarding e-commerce, the Software Industry Research Center notes that Chinese e-commerce companies are seeking new overseas growth opportunities given intensifying competition and weakening consumer spending at home. “Taiwan is often considered a natural entry point due to shared language, cultural familiarity, and high digital adoption,” the Software Industry Research Center told TOPICS via email.
The Boston-headquartered management consultancy Bain & Company noted in an October report that Chinese e-commerce companies have made significant headway internationally. “Evolving from old-school e-commerce to today’s social-media-driven retail and near-instant fulfillment, the rapid progression of the Chinese domestic market has equipped players with homegrown capabilities enabling them to compete successfully in foreign markets,” Bain noted.
Made in China, sold in Taiwan
The online marketplace operators Taobao and Pinduoduo have aggressively expanded their Taiwan presence since 2024, despite operating in a regulatory gray area. The Taiwan government forced Taobao to shutter its Taiwan operations in October 2020 after authorities discovered that it had concealed Chinese ownership of a previous locally registered entity, but Taiwanese consumers can still access the platform for cross-border purchases. Pinduoduo has never formally established a local presence and uses the same regulatory loophole as Taobao to sell goods online to Taiwanese consumers.
To increase its Taiwan business, Taobao has added support for local payment options like cash on delivery and sharply cut shipping fees by widening its free shipping zone and issuing daily delivery vouchers. During its 2024 Singles’ Day sale, the platform offered Taiwanese consumers about US$94 million (NT$3 billion) in subsidies in the form of coupons, discounts, and other incentives.
Pinduoduo, founded in 2015, combines social networking and online shopping. It is best known for its “group buying model,” where users can place orders individually or team up with friends to enjoy bigger discounts. The company began an aggressive marketing push in Taiwan in June, a move that drew scrutiny. A Taipei Times editorial characterized the expansion as a “threat,” arguing it reflects deeper structural forces.
“Behind Pinduoduo’s expansion lies a broader systemic issue: China’s industrial overcapacity,” the editorial said. “The company represents a model that leverages ultra-low-cost goods and price-cutting strategies to undercut local manufacturing and e-commerce industries in other countries.”
“Platforms such as Pinduoduo and Taobao also benefit from substantial corporate backing, allowing them to deploy large-scale subsidies and price promotions, strategies that appeal strongly to highly price-sensitive consumers,” MIC’s Software Industry Research Center notes.
Regulatory travails
In April 2025, Taobao ran print advertisements in the Taipei Metro — a move the Ministry of Economic Affairs said exceeded the scope of its approved business activities. Taobao is registered in Taiwan under a narrow category, “distribution of advertising materials,” which permits circulating flyers, coupons and similar promotions, but not full-scale ad campaigns.
For the violation, Taobao was fined NT$1.2 million. If the company fails to correct the issue within the prescribed period, the ministry said it may be required to withdraw its investment from Taiwan.
“The problem some Chinese companies like Taobao periodically encounter is a legal or regulatory violation in their day-to-day operations,” says Ross Darrell Feingold, a Taipei-based lawyer and political risk consultant. He says the type of violation committed by Taobao “is common with local or even multinational companies and is normally not going to rise to the level of such a significant fine. However, a Chinese company is an easy and popular target.”
The semigovernmental MIC notes that under the Act Governing Relations Between Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area and the Regulations Governing Investment in Taiwan by Persons of the Mainland Area, Chinese enterprises must apply for approval before conducting business activities in Taiwan. “The MAC (Mainland Affairs Council) has reiterated that Taiwan has not opened its market for Chinese e-commerce platforms to establish branches, offices, and warehouses in Taiwan,” MIC says.
Both Taobao and Pinduoduo are now also under fire, given concerns that imported products sold through the platforms may have contributed to the recent outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in Taichung. Wu Szu-yao, a legislator in the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, urged the government in late October to ban Chinese e-commerce platforms from selling meat products in Taiwan. While Chunghwa Post has handled many parcels from Taobao and Pinduoduo in the past few months, no evidence has yet emerged that the parcels contained ASF-contaminated meat.
For its part, Taobao says that it uses a three-layered system to prevent Taiwanese users from purchasing meat products that could violate local laws, according to Taiwan’s United Daily News. It blocks users with Taiwanese IP addresses from searching for or ordering the products, and, if that fails, prohibits shipment to Taiwanese addresses.
The TikTok problem
Because it does not sell physical goods to Taiwan, TikTok faces less direct regulatory pressure from Taiwanese authorities. However, its tendency to facilitate the spread of video content created by fake accounts that align with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda narratives has made it a target of ire in Taiwan’s China-skeptical circles. These videos reinforce CCP talking points, such as China’s claim of sovereignty over Taiwan, its insistence that unification is inevitable, and the idea that the United States is unreliable and will not come to Taiwan’s aid in a cross-Strait conflict.
In October, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said that it may restrict access to TikTok for elementary and junior high school students by blocking it on campus Wi-Fi networks. Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-jing told legislators in a briefing that there are three major concerns regarding the use of TikTok: where the platform stores user data, whether the company is controlled by Chinese investors, and the harm its content might pose for young students. “We are working closely with the Ministry of Education to address the issue about protecting children from potential harm associated with content on TikTok,” Lin said.
Lawyer and political risk consultant Feingold agrees that there is Mandarin language content on TikTok that reflects pro-China government views on political issues. Some of this content originates in China, while some originates in the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, the United States, or Canada. “In Taiwan, this content competes against an enormous amount of content about politics produced by influencers, individuals, and media companies that reflect a range of views from pro-unification to pro-independence to maintaining the status quo,” he says.
Feingold says that it is unclear whether pro-China content on social media, including TikTok, actually influences voter decisions in Taiwan’s local or national elections. Thus far, no evidence has emerged to prove that such content impacts election results.
Feingold argues that a blanket ban on TikTok is unlikely to curb the spread of problematic content, noting that similar material would almost certainly surface on other platforms. “A better solution is media literacy education, as long as such is done in a non-partisan way so that the public appreciates the lessons being taught and doesn’t consider it a partisan exercise,” he says.
Caveat emptor
Given the restrictions Chinese e-commerce platforms already face in Taiwan, analysts say a full ban is unlikely. Enforcement would be difficult, they note, because it is often hard to determine whether parcels entering the country were sent by Taobao or Pinduoduo sellers.
Even the effectiveness of forcing Taobao to shut down its local e-commerce site is questionable. To be sure, the shutdown sent a message to Taobao about the importance of following local regulations and was an inconvenience for Taiwanese users of the site. However, many Taiwanese Taobao users continued to access the main Taobao platform by switching their user location to “Chinese Taiwan” within the app and website.
That said, buying goods on Chinese e-commerce sites from Taiwan can be risky.
In a November post, Taiwan’s consumer finance website Cashfeel noted that Pinduoduo is especially popular with consumers who want to buy cheap goods and offers free shipment to Taiwan on orders over ¥49 (about NT$215). “However, because the platform gathers a large number of small and medium-sized merchants, product quality can vary, and prices can fluctuate significantly,” Cashfeel wrote. It advises shoppers to carefully review written reviews and images on the site.
“Low-priced, consumable, or novelty items are suitable for purchase,” it said. Pricey items and those requiring after-sales service, “or items involving safety, should be avoided.”
MIC notes that for consumers purchasing from platforms like Pinduoduo or Taobao, there is currently no formal channel for filing complaints if a dispute arises, and resolution depends on how the Consumer Protection Act interprets the specific circumstances.
“This uncertainty may discourage some Taiwanese consumers from making purchases through these China-based platforms,” MIC says.
