I am an ethnic European who lived in China for several years and now live in Taiwan. I speak and read Chinese at a level good enough for casual conversations, doing banking/rent/etc and getting by in the workplace, but I am far from an expert.

The accent and dialect is mutually intelligible on both sides of the strait, but there is a fair bit of vocabulary and some pronunciations that clearly mark you as having learned in one place or the other. Think of it as the difference between British and American English.

The bigger difference in my opinion is simplified versus traditional. It is possible to learn one and read the other, but having lived almost 2 years in Taiwan now I still find a wall of text in traditional a lot harder to digest. Personally I think simplified is more legible, especially on low res screens or at a distance, but it's unlikely to change over here for political reasons.

Taiwan is probably a fine place to learn Chinese as a beginner. It's easier to "cheat" due to the English language resources available in the community, but if you make an effort I'm sure you can immerse yourself.