Taiwan's culture minister has pledged to invest more than $20 million to reinvigorate the local production of TV drama series that has faltered under competition from mainland China and South Korea.

Lung Yin-tai said Friday the government will fund the making of five flagship drama series and help TV stations attract talent to raise the content and quality of their productions.

Until a few years ago, Taiwanese soap operas had captivated China with heart-wrenching love stories featuring stylishly dressed protagonists.

But Chinese filmmakers have struck back, leveraging high salaries to attract Taiwanese actors and other movie workers to work on the mainland.