Taiwan cooking oil scandal: Why Beijing Avoids Adding Oil to the Fire

[Asia Unfiltered 2026 #11]: Isabelle Feng, Vice President of Asia Centre, publishes a new commentary, now also available in English.

↑ Download the commentary via the PDF button above.

In this new piece, Isabelle Feng looks back at the tainted cooking oil scandal that has affected Taiwan for several weeks, and at Beijing’s measured response to the affair. She examines the protests held in Taipei on 25 July, the coverage of the event by Chinese state media, and reactions observed on Chinese social media. She puts this episode in perspective alongside the history of food safety scandals in mainland China and the question of freedom to protest on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Feng examines the protests held in Taipei on 25 July, where demonstrators called for stronger oversight of food producers and accountability from regulators who failed to catch the fraud earlier. She traces how the event was covered, or largely ignored, by Chinese state media, contrasting the muted official tone with the more critical and often mocking reactions visible on Chinese social media platforms, where users drew comparisons with Beijing’s own history of food safety failures.

She puts this episode in perspective alongside a string of past food safety scandals in mainland China, from tainted milk powder to gutter oil, and asks why Beijing has largely refrained from using Taiwan’s crisis for propaganda purposes. The piece closes by examining the broader question of freedom to protest on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and what the contrast reveals about the two systems’ handling of public anger over food safety.