Rathbones’ head of EM: Why Taiwan is now on a par with China

By Tim Love, head of world rising market equities at Rathbones For a lot of the previous twenty years, China has been the undisputed elephant within the room in rising markets (EM). Its sheer scale has meant that shifts in Chinese language coverage, development or sentiment have tended to dictate returns throughout the broad MSCI EM index, for higher or worse. However all that’s altering – and rapidly. As at 21 April 2026, Taiwan accounts for 27% of the index, drawing stage with China’s weighting. 5 years in the past, China represented roughly 42% of the index. This shift isn’t a cyclical rotation however…