‘Zero Day’ illustrates China’s invasion of Taiwan
It tells the story of increasing tension before Beijing launches an attack on the self-ruled island
A lengthy trailer for a new Taiwanese TV series about China invading the self-ruled island is stirring up emotions and debate.
The show Zero Day tells the story of a Chinese anti-submarine aircraft flying into the waters southeast of the island and disappearing in the lead-up to Taiwan’s presidential election.
This gives China an excuse to blockade the island and then launch an invasion.
The 17-minute trailer released on July 23 has racked up more than 900,000 views and depicts increasing tensions with a seven-day countdown before China’s attack.
It shows psychological and cognitive warfare as Beijing hacks Taiwan’s communications and replaces them with Chinese Communist Party propaganda.
Beijing threats
The series has 10 episodes of independent stories and is expected to be completed by the end of November for broadcast next year.
Hsin-mei Cheng, the production manager of Zero Day, told Voice of America that it’s not just an action show meant to entertain. She said the series aims to raise Taiwanese people’s awareness of the threats posed by Beijing, adding:
Our definition of war is information and espionage warfare, the so-called infiltration war. It’s actually talking about red infiltration. Our creators think the war [in the Taiwan Strait] has [already] begun, and it exists around our lives in various ways.
Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province that must one day reunite with the mainland, by force if necessary.
China has already stepped up military rhetoric, exercises, and monitoring around the island during politically sensitive events, such as this year’s presidential elections.
After watching the trailer, James Liu, a Taipei citizen, had mixed feelings about the extremely pessimistic and tragic situations the show illustrates.
He said a scene where a Taiwanese social media influencer calls for the island to surrender before the invasion rather than fight “their own people” seemed real, adding:
People who may not usually think about [China’s infiltration] should start thinking about it and at least [strengthen their] psychological defense or have an understanding of information warfare, which would be helpful.
Kung-yu Chen, a landscape designer in Taiwan’s central city of Taichung, felt the trailer showed what the island could expect if war broke out. This included chaos at the grassroots level, and the immediate surrender and collaboration by people.
Government leaders
He noted many high-ranking officials and influential people in Taiwan have sent their children abroad to study, and wondered if government leaders would hold on until the last moment as shown in the trailer:
Patriotism may be talked about by people who can’t run away because they can only stay, and only then will they be deified for persisting until the last moment. Those with dual nationality have run away in advance.
But the trailer also showed a Taiwanese son choosing to stay and fight as his parents joined others in fleeing the island before the invasion.
Still, other Taiwanese disagreed with how the show’s trailer depicts what would happen if China invaded. Chien-yu Chen, a retailer in Taiwan’s coastal city of Tainan, said the possible moves by China were too smooth and there was no counteraction shown from Taipei:
Whoever chooses to watch the show already [has a] political stance. I don’t think it’s to strengthen [the sense of defense]. I think it’s more like a patriotic propaganda show.
The Zero Day trailer also attracted online criticism from the other side of the Taiwan Strait. A Chinese military blogger under the name “Foreign Affairs Pioneer Zhang Zhidong” posted on social media:
In the plot, they tried their best to smear the mainland, saying that we deliberately blew up our own anti-submarine aircraft as a reason for going to war.
Online comment
Nationalist Chinese commentators also said Zero Day was full of people who support Taiwan’s independence. But they boasted if there was a war, they would not give the island a second thought. An online comment by “boomxwk” from Guangdong said:
It will take seven days to take over Taiwan and also have the Smurfs [soldiers in blue camouflage uniforms] land on the island? Do you understand the value of drones?
Despite some Chinese netizens finding ways to watch the trailer, it is doubtful whether they will be able to view Zero Day when it is released next year. Beijing’s censors have a zero-tolerance policy for any content about Taiwan that depicts China as the aggressor.
Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
Yang An is a producer at Voice of America.
This article is republished courtesy of Voice of America. Read the original article here.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of China Factor.