Is ‘Zero Day' a Preview of Taiwan's Future?
A scene from the forthcoming TV show 'Zero Day' depicting a Chinese amphibious landing on Taiwan.Taipei
The trouble begins on election day, with a bombing that interrupts voting, calls into question the legitimacy of the results, and inflames societal rifts. Concurrently, a People's Liberation Army Y-8 aircraft goes down in the Taiwan Strait, and Beijing uses search-and-rescue operations as the pretext for a blockade. China also makes a move on an outlying island. War appears imminent. How will Taiwan's people respond?
That question is a core theme of 'Zero Day,' a forthcoming 10-part TV drama depicting a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The first episode, described above, premiered this week at Copenhagen's Democracy Summit. The show's trailer suggests that, as the countdown to war begins, characters will contend with supply shortages, telecommunications breakdowns, the prison release of thugs who act as Beijing's on-the-ground enforcers, and other disquietingly plausible scenarios. (It shouldn't be confused with the Netflix miniseries of the same name starring Robert De Niro as a former U.S. president.)
'Zero Day' showrunner Hsin-Mei Cheng says she has observed that Taiwanese people are sometimes reluctant to dwell on the threat of war, but 'when we released our trailer last year, I found out the fear is in everyone's bottom of heart.' The show is 'a conversation-starter, and it's something that should be talked about more,' says Janet Hsieh, the actress who plays Taiwan's president-elect.
In real life, China has quietly and steadily increased its threats against Taiwan. Recent Chinese military drills have practiced blockades, and China has also stepped up patrols around Taiwan's outlying islands. Adm. Samuel Paparo, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, has warned American lawmakers these aggressive moves are 'not exercises' but 'rehearsals' for a forced reunification.
The Taiwanese should be rehearsing, too. 'Defending Taiwan shouldn't just be the responsibility of the military, and everyone can have a role to protect each other and defend the country,' says Lin Fei-Fan, deputy secretary-general of Taiwan's National Security Council. Taiwan hopes preparedness may also function as a form of deterrence.
Last summer, President Lai Ching-te established a Whole of Society Defense Resilience Committee, composed of representatives from government, civil society and academia. It held its first live drills in March, with volunteers, firefighters and medical personnel practicing the response to a natural disaster and an explosion at a strategically important port. Under a separate government initiative, 11 cities are holding drills this spring and summer that incorporate civil society. Some will coincide with Taiwan's Han Kuang military exercises.
Taiwanese civil society is also stepping up to help the public prepare. The businessman Robert Tsao helped fund the production of 'Zero Day,' and he's also a financial backer of Kuma Academy, a nonprofit that seeks 'to prepare a prewar mentality for civilians' and 'cultivate self-defense capability and will to defend Taiwan.' Last fall China imposed sanctions on Mr. Tsao, Kuma Academy and one of its co-founders, Taiwanese lawmaker Puma Shen. Beijing also added Messrs. Tsao and Shen to its list of ' 'Taiwan independence' diehards' and threatened that they will be 'held accountable for life.'
Kuma Academy didn't respond to my interview request, but it's easy to understand why China would despise initiatives like this. 'If society finds a way to carry on, it affords the government and the military the space to do their difficult job,' says Enoch Wu, founder and director of Forward Alliance, a nongovernmental organization that offers civilian training for how to save lives in a range of disasters.
Taiwan's civil society is experiencing something similar to what happened in Ukraine in the decade before Russia's 2023 invasion. During the 2013-14 Revolution of Dignity, Ukrainians protested the president's decision to back out of a political association and free trade agreement with Europe in favor of closer ties with Russia. Taiwan's Sunflower Movement erupted almost in tandem, as protesters opposed a 2014 trade pact that would have deepened economic ties with China. Political and civic leaders emerged out of both movements, including many now focused on whole-of-society readiness.
Mr. Wu says Taiwan is 'a disaster-prone country.' Civilian volunteers have experience responding to earthquakes, typhoons and other emergencies. His organization offers courses on first aid, search and rescue, using drones for emergency response, and dealing with unexploded ordnance, among other skills. As of last week, Forward Alliance had trained more than 24,000 volunteers in person and more than 457,000 online.
That includes 128 employees from the Taiwanese company Awoo Intelligence, whose CEO, Mike Lin, describes himself as part of 'the Sunflower generation.' His realization: 'If we don't think carefully, if we don't do something more for this country, we will not retain our democracy and our freedom.' Watching 'Zero Day' may unsettle Taiwanese viewers enough to draw the same conclusion—and to act on it.
Ms. Melchior is a London-based member of the Journal's editorial board.
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