It is Taiwan’s national sport. Baseball gets people moving all around the island, riveted to their television or lining up to enter stadiums. It has a tangled history of colonialism and national pride, but it is the only sport in Taiwan that generates such momentum.
And if you’ve watched a baseball match in Taiwan in recent years, you would have noticed a group of eye-catching cheerleaders dancing in the stands.
Sports diplomacy is discussed more and more, but cheerleaders’ diplomacy is still an unveiled topic. These cheerleaders are now a crucial part of Taiwanese baseball culture and are even becoming icons representing the country on sports fields across the sea: this year, Wing Stars, the cheerleading team of the TSG Hawks, will perform at the Seattle Mariners’ Taiwan Day event on April 26.
The Cheerleaders’ Diplomacy of Taiwan
They are not the only ones. Rakuten Girls, the cheerleading team of the Rakuten Monkeys, were the first Taiwanese cheerleading team invited to the MLB (Major League Baseball) stage in the United States. They performed at Taiwan Day events hosted by the New York Mets, Los Angeles Angels, and Oakland Athletics in 2023 and 2024.
Taiwanese cheerleaders also appear elsewhere in Japan and Korea, where baseball is popular and cheerleading culture is well developed. The teams of the Uni-Lions (Taiwan) and the Saitama Seibu Lions (Japan) have staged joint performances during friendly matches every year since 2016. The cheerleading team of the Rakuten Lotte Giants (Korea) was also invited to perform during a friendly match with the Taiwanese national team before the 2025 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers.
Korean and Japanese cheerleaders also come to work in Taiwan, where they enjoy great popularity: teams even hold press conferences when signing new foreign cheerleaders. Since 2023, following the arrival of Korean cheerleader Lee Dahye (李多慧), a new wave of foreign cheerleaders has entered the Taiwanese market—also considered part of Taiwan’s cheerleader-driven international engagement.
The result? There are now over 150 cheerleaders working for CPBL teams (Chinese Professional Baseball League, the formal name of Taiwan’s professional baseball league), including 12 from Korea and 2 from Japan.
That’s enough cheerleaders to conquer the world. But what makes it special in Taiwan?
The Taiwanese-Style Cheerleading Culture
First, Taiwanese cheerleaders are unique because of their elevated “status” on and off the field.
“Our cheerleading style borrows elements from Japan and Korea,” says Suli Tsai (蔡思莉), former cheerleader and longtime dance director of the Passion Sisters, the cheerleading team for CTBC Brothers.
In 2005, the first CPBL cheerleading team—La New Girls—was founded in Kaohsiung. Afterward, other teams in Taiwan followed suit, building their own cheerleading squads. But by 2013, Taiwan’s cheerleading style began shifting—from the traditional Japanese format led by trumpets, cymbals, and drums with clapping chants—to a K-pop-influenced approach emphasizing dance moves and pop music, while retaining player-specific chant traditions.
“Frankly speaking, we don’t really have a uniquely Taiwanese cheerleading style,” Suli says. “So we try creative ways to stand out—like singing a Japanese pop song in Tokyo, which got great feedback from Japanese fans.”
In addition to special performances, fans increasingly consider “individualism” a defining feature of Taiwan’s cheerleading culture. Individualism here means cheerleaders are encouraged to express their personalities, run personal social media like idols, and interact with fans in an approachable way.
A fan says, “compared to celebrities on TV, they feel more like friends to me. You can sit just next to these girls during the games. Sometimes they even remember your face if you show up often.”
If you walk into a CPBL baseball match, you’ll find groups of “ultras of cheerleaders” seated at the very front, in what is humorously called “the fragrance area” in Taiwan—because you can literally smell the perfume in the air.
“They’re just like the fairies of baseball. We bring passion to the field—and become friends with everyone,” says Suli.
“Cheerleaders Are Only Side Characters in Most Countries—But Not in Taiwan”
The result is a contrast between the local cheerleading culture and that of Japan and Korea. And cheerleaders from these two countries coming to work in Taiwanese teams have to cope with it: “Taiwanese fans always find foreign cheerleading girls more appealing. But, once they arrive here, we have different expectations of them,” says a young Taiwanese fan.
Just like many foreign YouTubers or opinion leaders coming to Taiwan, fans and team managers often expect these girls to show their love for the country. As a result, cases like Lee Jueun (李珠珢), who signed with both a Taiwanese and a Korean team, spark heated public debate.
“Compared to celebrities on TV, they feel more like friends”
“Signing Korean cheerleaders… it’s usually more like a feeling of ‘winning Korea by winning their girls’ to us. And thus, of course, Korean fans didn’t seem so happy with the phenomenon,” a fan says.
“I think they’re even confused, because cheerleaders are only side characters in most countries, including Korea—but that’s not the case in Taiwan,” he adds.
Some of these cheerleader fans arrive with professional photography gear and cheerleader merchandise. They are not here for baseball—but for the girls, which draws criticism from both feminists and sports purists alike.
The Ongoing Debate
Over the past few years, debates have emerged about whether cheerleading shows are appropriate at baseball games. One key controversy is the sexualized image of cheerleaders, often described as designed to “please the fans.”
This links to broader feminist debates.
Supporters—including some performers—see it as a form of empowerment, a path for women to gain visibility in a male-dominated space. Critics, however, highlight persistent issues like gendered labor roles, the male gaze, and commodification.
“I think the gender division has loosened already,” says a female fan. “Now we even have female cheer captains (團長), which were mostly men in the past. There’s also a chubby male cheerleader named ‘Little Ant’ (小螞蟻) with the Dragon Beauties. Fans love him, even though his case is more comedic.”
While many fans support the idea of male cheerleaders, team managers appear less open.
“I am not against the idea, but I don’t think that will work. Cheerleaders are supposed to be girls. Some dance moves just look weird on guys,” one insider says.
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It’s understandable that business realities shape these decisions, but at the core lies the marketing strategy and consumer habits.
A male fan confesses, “To be honest, I think the cheerleading girls are chosen to serve (heterosexual) male fans. And I enjoy it—I won’t deny that.” This is where we find a lingering ideology that objectifies women, expanding the tolerance for the male gaze. This spills over into how female fans, media staff, and even coaches are treated on the field.
Lipstick Diplomacy?
Prior to Taiwan, North Korea was actually the real precursor of “cheerleader diplomacy”—described ironically by The New York Times in 2018 as “Lipstick Diplomacy.”
The term reflects how these performers, mostly young women, are selected for their appearance and sent abroad to serve national interests.
In North Korea’s case, a cheerleading troupe of over 230 women was dispatched to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics to showcase national unity and beauty—similar to their appearance at the 2002 Busan Asian Games.
So, is Taiwan doing something similar?
“Well, they’re totally different cases, in my opinion,” says Professor Tzu-hsuan Chen (陳子軒) of National Taiwan Sport University. “Taiwanese cheerleading performances abroad are mainly commercially driven, while the North Korean examples are clearly propaganda-oriented.”
Does Cheerleader Diplomacy Work?
Public diplomacy is about visibility. What matters in the end is media exposure. The reach of cheerleader diplomacy remains the core. And Professor Chen says, “To be honest, I don’t think it really works. Its media impact is stronger at home than abroad—for example, MLB fans watching Taiwan Day probably don’t think much about Taiwan.”
However, Professor Chen sees them as playing a supportive PR role: it’s hard to send players overseas during the season, so cheerleaders do help bridge that gap.
“It may not be the best way to promote Taiwan, but it’s reasonable,” he added.
Cheerleader diplomacy’s potential is also limited by baseball’s regional popularity—mostly in the U.S., Japan, and Korea—and by differing attitudes toward gender equality. “When I explain this culture to European scholars, they’re shocked,” says Professor Chen. “It’s a regional thing. For example, Formula One dropped the Grid Girl tradition in 2018—the official statement said it didn’t reflect modern values.”
Just like football and Formula One, cheerleaders are mostly absent from European sports. That contrast highlights differing gender norms across cultures.
So why does it matter?
When Gender Equality and Cheerleader Diplomacy Coexist
In recent years, Taiwan’s diplomacy has often promoted gender equality and its domestic progress on such matters. With so many gender concerns over cheerleading culture, is there any contradiction between both diplomatic measures?
“Both things can exist,” said Professor Chen. “Rome wasn’t built in a day. And gender equality isn’t linear either—it advances, stalls, and sometimes reverses.”
“The progress of pursuing gender equality and inclusiveness of LGBTQ+ is a circuitous yet diverse path. And the phenomenon of having cheerleaders and same-sex marriage are not against each other,” he says.
“We don’t look down on them. We treat them as part of the team”
When asked for their opinion, many fans concurred and considered the phenomenon driven by a wide spectrum of ideologies in Taiwan.
One fan girl, however, offered a different view: “I think it’s because we respect women more—that makes cheerleaders treated better here than in Korea or Japan,” she says. “We don’t look down on them. We treat them as part of the team. Plus, they can show their personalities and be themselves—which is rare in Japan and Korea.”
Cheerleaders may not speak for Taiwan in the traditional sense, but on foreign fields and home turf alike, they’re part of a bigger story—where fandom, identity, and soft power meet. This is where they can make a difference: showing a different kind of cheerleaders, with an image that matches Taiwan’s values.