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Straits Times
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
‘Will Taiwanese be ready?': Taiwan TV drama confronts fear of a Chinese invasion
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Zero Day Attack so realistically portrays what a Chinese invasion of Taiwan could look like that it is also a wake-up call for the territory's residents. – As enemy warplanes and ships surround an island in a military blockade, chaos ensues on city streets: Convenience stores are looted, the internet is knocked out, and panicked residents attempt to flee. These are scenes from Zero Day Attack, a new Taiwanese television fictional series. The show so realistically portrays what a Chinese invasion of Taiwan could look like that it is also a wake-up call for the territory's residents. Ahead of its release on Aug 2, trailers of the 10-episode drama – the first of its kind – have already sparked discussions and emotional reactions over a potential conflict close to home. 'Goosebumps! It's hard to imagine how we will face it when the day (of invasion) comes… When the day comes, will Taiwanese be ready? It only takes one moment to lose our freedom,' wrote a YouTube user in a comment which has garnered more than 3,600 upvotes. Taiwan has lived under Beijing's constant military threat of 'reunification' for decades, leading to fears in some quarters that most Taiwanese people have become desensitised to the dangers of a possible war. According to a March poll by the Institute for National Defence and Security Research (INDSR), a Taiwanese think-tank, China was listed as Taiwan's greatest threat to national security in the next five years, but only 33 per cent of those surveyed said they believed it. There were respondents who more concerned about declining birth rates (27 per cent) and economic stagnation (18 per cent). These findings have been consistent for the past several years, even as Beijing has considerably ratcheted up its military pressure against Taiwan during the same time period, staging massive war games around the island and sending warplanes and ships almost daily. 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That is partly what drove TV producer Cheng Hsin-mei to create Zero Day Attack in the first place. 'We hope that this show will awaken Taiwanese people to the looming threat of war,' she said at a recent publicity event attended by The Straits Times. Ms Cheng, who also penned one of the show's episodes, is a Golden Bell Award-winning screenwriter behind the 2015 drama The Best Of Youth. A new episode of Zero Day Attack will be launched every week on Taiwan's Public Television Service from Aug 2, before the show gets its international premiere on Japan's Amazon Prime Video on Aug 15. Trailers of the 10-episode drama have already sparked discussions and emotional reactions over a potential conflict close to home. PHOTO: ZERO DAY ATTACK A central message of the series, which is partly funded by the Taiwan government, is the importance of societal resilience, and how every civilian – and not just the military – has a part to play in the event of an invasion. This aligns with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's whole-of-society resilience strategy, which aims to strengthen civilian preparedness in the face of Beijing's aggression. This strategy includes civil defence training as well as testing responses to communications blackouts and transportation disruptions. 'It is said that an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure,' Mr Lai had said in a speech in March. 'To ensure Taiwan's security, we hope to rely not just on the armed forces, but also on the forces of defence resilience throughout our society. In that way we can achieve peace through strength,' he added. In July, Taiwan's largest annual Han Kuang military exercise manifested this strategy, combining conventional war games with urban survival drills for the first time. Some of the civil defence activities included simulations of mass evacuations from supermarkets and department stores during an air raid. In fact, traditional military clashes do not make up the bulk of Zero Day Attack. Instead, the series casts spotlight on other forms of aggression including cognitive warfare and grey zone tactics, which utilises tools such as disinformation, cyberattacks and influence campaigns to wear down an adversary and cause panic. In one scene, the Taiwanese president's emergency address is hacked during a live broadcast, replaced by a smiling Chinese state news anchor urging Taiwanese to accept the 'peaceful reunification of the motherland'. Ms Cheng, the producer, said Beijing has already been employing non-military offensives against Taiwan. 'For me, the war has already begun in Taiwan – it is not being fought with guns and cannons, but through information and infiltration,' she said. According to a long-running study by Swedish research institute V-dem Institute, Taiwan has consistently topped the list of territories most affected by disinformation – most of which originates from China. Data from Taiwan's National Security Bureau also showed that 64 Taiwanese were charged for Chinese espionage in 2024, three times more than in 2021. Before Zero Day Attack, Taiwanese TV show creators have rarely dared to address the topic so directly for fear of losing access to the lucrative Chinese entertainment market. When Taiwanese pop stars and actors are found to be critical of Beijing, for instance, they are often blacklisted. Reportedly, Taiwanese performing artists have also been coerced into signing written pledges to support Beijing's territorial claim over Taiwan in order to be allowed to work on the mainland. In the case of Zero Day Attack, some crew members dropped out of the production at the last minute; more than half of the TV show crew also asked to be left out of the credits list. But Ms Cheng pushed on to complete the series, whose cast includes Taiwanese-American actress Janet Hsieh, Taiwanese actor Kaiser Chuang and Hong Kong's Chapman To, a vocal critic of Beijing, who became a naturalised Taiwanese in 2022. 'This TV show is a story that only Taiwanese people can tell – and one that urgently needs to be told,' said Ms Cheng. 'I hope that while Taiwanese audiences enjoy its entertainment value, they will also become more aware of the infiltration of modern grey-zone warfare,' she added. Mr Marvin Park, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think-tank, noted in a brief that the series' trailer has already 'captured people's imaginations in a way that official government messaging efforts are unlikely to achieve.' 'The goal is not for people to conclude there's no point in resistance, but to spur action towards resilience efforts now,' he wrote.
New Straits Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New Straits Times
New Taiwan TV show imagines China invasion
TAIPEI: A new Taiwanese television series that imagines the run-up to a Chinese invasion is getting rave reviews from viewers, who said the first programme featuring the sensitive topic is a wake-up call for the public facing heightened Chinese military threat. In the show, Zero Day Attack, a Chinese war plane goes missing near Taiwan. China then sends swarms of military boats and planes for a blockade as Taiwan goes on a war footing. Panic ensues on the streets of Taipei. At viewings here last week, attendees have included top United States diplomat in Taiwan Raymond Greene, who is director of the American Institute in Taiwan, and Taiwanese tycoon Robert Tsao, a strident critic of Beijing. The series is set to premiere on Aug 2 in Taiwan, followed by its Japanese release on Amazon Prime Video. "Presenting such a situation (of conflict) can lead to more discussion about what we should do if it really turns into reality one day," said Blair Yeh, a 35-year-old engineer, after watching the first episode in the Taipei premiere last week. The premise of Zero Day Attack is a topic that has for years been considered too sensitive for many Taiwan filmmakers and television show creators, who fear losing access to the lucrative Chinese entertainment market. More than half of the show's crew asked to remain anonymous on the crew list and some people, including a director, pulled out of the production at the last minute, said its showrunner Cheng Hsin Mei. But as China steps up military threats, including at least six rounds of major war games in the past five years and daily military activities close to Taiwan, the upcoming drama confronts the fear by setting the 10-episode series around a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The drama focuses on several scenarios Taiwan might face in the days leading up to a Chinese attack, including a global financial collapse, the activation of Chinese sleeper agents and panicked residents trying to flee the island. "Without freedom, Taiwan is not Taiwan," the actor who plays a fictional Taiwan president says in a televised speech, urging unity after declaring war on China, in the show's trailer. The live broadcast then gets abruptly cut off, replaced by a feed of a Chinese state television anchor calling for Taiwanese to surrender and to report "hidden pro-independence activists" to Chinese soldiers after their landing in Taiwan.
New Straits Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New Straits Times
#Showbiz: New TV show imagines China invasion, gives Taiwan viewers wake-up call
TAIPEI: A new Taiwanese television series that imagines the run-up to a Chinese invasion is getting rave reviews from viewers, who said the first programme featuring the sensitive topic is a wake-up call for the public facing heightened Chinese military threat. In the show, Zero Day Attack, a Chinese warplane goes missing near Taiwan. China then sends swarms of military boats and planes for a blockade as Taiwan goes on a war footing. Panic ensues on the streets of Taipei. At viewings in Taipei last week, attendees included the top US diplomat in Taiwan, Raymond Greene, who is director of the American Institute in Taiwan, and Taiwanese tycoon Robert Tsao, a strident critic of Beijing. The series is set to premiere on August 2 in Taiwan, followed by its Japanese release on Amazon Prime Video. "Presenting such a situation (of conflict) can lead to more discussion about what we should do if it really turns into reality one day," said Blair Yeh, a 35-year-old engineer, after watching the first episode at the Taipei premiere last week. The premise of Zero Day Attack is a topic that has for years been considered too sensitive for many Taiwanese filmmakers and television show creators, who fear losing access to the lucrative Chinese entertainment market. More than half of the show's crew asked to remain anonymous on the crew list, and some people, including a director, pulled out of the production at the last minute, its showrunner Cheng Hsin Mei told Reuters. But as China steps up military threats — including at least six rounds of major war games in the past five years and daily military activities close to Taiwan — the upcoming drama confronts the fear by setting the 10-episode series around a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The drama focuses on several scenarios Taiwan might face in the days leading up to a Chinese attack, including a global financial collapse, the activation of Chinese sleeper agents, and panicked residents trying to flee the island. "Without freedom, Taiwan is not Taiwan," says the actor who plays a fictional Taiwanese president in a televised speech, urging unity after declaring war on China, in the show's trailer. The live broadcast then gets abruptly cut off, replaced by a feed of a Chinese state television anchor calling for Taiwanese to surrender and report "hidden pro-independence activists" to Chinese soldiers after their landing in Taiwan. "We've been comfortable for a long time now," said viewer Leon Yu, a 43-year-old semiconductor industry professional, adding that Taiwan's freedom and democracy must be preserved. "There's still a lot of people out there burying their head in the sand and don't want to face the dangers of the present."
Metro
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
Frightening new TV series shows what China's invasion of Taiwan could look like
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video A TV show centring around a Chinese invasion is hitting a little too close to home in Taiwan. On the surface, 'Zero Day Attack' could be just another Hollywood thriller – air-raid sirens blasting, explosions ripping through buildings and swarms of military jets deployed – but this is a scenario people are actually preparing for. Taiwan, a self-governed democracy of 23.3 million people, has lived under the shadow of China's threat for many years. The Communist Party claims the country as part of its own territory and its imperialistic rhetoric has only grown more aggressive in the last decade. The government has previously declared it is 'ready to fight at all times' as it concluded a military drill in the Taiwanese waters in 2023. This is why the 17-minute trailer has raised further alarm in Taiwan. Even the name, 'Zero Day Attack', refers to exploiting an unknown vulnerability, meaning that the target has no time to prepare or defend against it. Set to premier on Saturday, the show starts with a Chinese war plane going missing near Taiwan. China then sends swarms of military boats and jets for a blockade as the island goes on a war footing. Panic ensues on the streets of the capital, Taipei. After watching the first episode in the Taipei premier last week, Blair Yeh, a 35-year-old engineer, said: 'Presenting such a situation (of conflict) can lead to more discussion about what we should do if it really turns into reality one day.' A war with China has long been a too sensitive of a topic for the nation. For example, this has resulted in more than half of the show's crew asking to remain anonymous on the crew list, and some people including a director pulling out of the production at the last minute, showrunner Cheng Hsin Mei said. 'Zero Day Attack' is being released as China has stepped up its military preparedness – including at least six rounds of major war games in the past five years and daily military activities close to the island. This threat is felt in Europe as well. Only yesterday UK defence secretary John Healey confirmed that Britain is ready to fight in the Pacific if a conflict breaks out over Taiwan. More Trending Speaking on board the HMS Prince of Wales, alongside Richard Marles, the Australian deputy prime minister, he told The Telegraph: 'If we have to fight, as we have done in the past, Australia and the UK are nations that will fight together. 'We exercise together and by exercising together and being more ready to fight, we deter better together.' But Healey later admitted that he was speaking in 'general terms', and said the UK would prefer to see any disputes in the Indo-Pacific resolved 'peacefully' and 'diplomatically'. It does not take long to determine whether China or Taiwan overpowers the other with its military. China possesses one of the world's largest forces, ranking third behind the US and Russia in 2025. Boasting a rapidly modernising force and the second-largest defence budget, it is a clear threat to most countries – and Taiwan in particular, which ranks 22nd overall. Taiwan's only advantage is its geography. As an island, the nation could prove a significant military challenge to invade. Water provides a natural barrier, making it harder for an enemy to land troops and supplies. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Dinosaur voice box fossil reveals what they sounded like 150,000,000 years ago MORE: Dog survives after 30-tonne boulder crashes into family's driveway MORE: China's new secret weapon is a flying ship dubbed 'the sea monster'
Malay Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
TV show imagines China invasion, a grim reminder for Taiwan viewers
TAIPEI, July 28 — A new Taiwanese television series that imagines the run-up to a Chinese invasion is getting rave reviews from viewers, who said the first programme featuring the sensitive topic is a wake-up call for the public facing heightened Chinese military threat. In the show, Zero Day Attack, a Chinese war plane goes missing near Taiwan. China then sends swarms of military boats and planes for a blockade as Taiwan goes on a war footing. Panic ensues on the streets of Taipei. At viewings in Taipei last week attendees have included the top US diplomat in Taiwan Raymond Greene, who is director of the American Institute in Taiwan, and Taiwanese tycoon Robert Tsao, a strident critic of Beijing. The series is set to premiere on August 2 in Taiwan, followed by its Japanese release on Amazon Prime Video. 'Presenting such a situation (of conflict) can lead to more discussion about what we should do if it really turns into reality one day,' said Blair Yeh, a 35-year-old engineer, after watching the first episode in the Taipei premier last week. The premise of Zero Day Attack is a topic that has for years been considered too sensitive for many Taiwan filmmakers and television show creators, who fear losing access to the lucrative Chinese entertainment market. More than half of the show's crew asked to remain anonymous on the crew list, and some people including a director pulled out of the production at the last minute, its showrunner Cheng Hsin Mei told Reuters. But as China steps up military threats, including at least six rounds of major war games in the past five years and daily military activities close to Taiwan, the upcoming drama confronts the fear by setting the 10-episode series around a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The drama focuses on several scenarios Taiwan might face in the days leading up to a Chinese attack, including a global financial collapse, the activation of Chinese sleeper agents and panicked residents trying to flee the island. 'Without freedom, Taiwan is not Taiwan,' the actor who plays a fictional Taiwan president says in a televised speech, urging unity after declaring war on China, in the show's trailer. The live broadcast then gets abruptly cut off, replaced by a feed of a Chinese state television anchor calling for Taiwanese to surrender and to report 'hidden pro-independence activists' to Chinese soldiers after their landing in Taiwan. 'We've been comfortable for a long time now,' said viewer Leon Yu, 43-year-old semiconductor industry professional, adding Taiwan's freedom and democracy must be kept. 'There's still a lot of people out there burying their head in the sand and don't want to face the dangers of the present.' — Reuters
