“I want to find a peaceful path without bloodshed,” said Taiwan’s newly-elected president, Wang Ming-fang (王明芳), after finding out that Chinese ships have surrounded the island nation. She has to decide whether to sign a peace agreement with China that would sacrifice Taiwan’s sovereignty.
This is a scene from “Zero Day Attack,” an upcoming Taiwanese television series about a near-future Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Last week, Domino Theory attended a screening of the first episode in Taipei.
The show begins on “Day 0,” at a polling station where Wang Ming-fang is speaking to the press. Suddenly, an explosion takes a chunk out of the building behind her.
“I don’t really follow politics, but after watching episode one, I feel we need to do more to stay safe,” Dan Liu, a 33-year-old marketing specialist, told Domino Theory after the screening event.
The triggering event happens when a People’s Liberation Army antisubmarine patrol aircraft called Shaanxi Y-8 (運-8) crashes into the waters southeast of Taiwan.
The crash is ostensibly an act of covert internal sabotage by China, possibly a false flag operation designed to provoke a crisis. Only one crewman survives, rescued by a Taiwanese Navy warship.
China’s response? Use the crash as a pretext, impose a naval blockade and halt international shipping to Taiwan. The blockade triggers a stock market crash and a bank run, highlighting Taiwan’s economic fragility and the panic that would ensue as people attempt to flee.
The episode establishes a tense, speculative tone. A Chinese invasion could be detrimental not only to Taiwanese society, but also to the global economy and the First Island Chain — the string of island archipelagoes forming a strategic barrier against China’s projection of power in the Pacific.
Each of the ten episodes in “Zero Day Attack” was directed by a different person in order to offer varied perspectives on the potential crisis, according to a press event last year.
“The show aims to tell the world that Taiwan is not part of China. If war breaks out, it is an invasion, not a domestic conflict. Through this series, we hope the world will learn about and support Taiwan,” said Cheng Hsin-mei (鄭心湄), the series’ producer.
Chapman To (杜文澤), who plays a political commentator secretly working for the Chinese Communist Party, is a well-known actor from Hong Kong. He relocated to Taiwan after struggling to find work because of his support for the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. During a Q&A session following the screening, To noted that “cultural infiltration” is a serious issue in Taiwan, particularly among younger people who consume content on social media platforms like TikTok.
The series was produced in Taiwan with support from the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of National Defense and Robert Tsao (曹興誠), a prominent organizer for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) recall movement and the founder of United Microelectronics Corp. The production budget was reported to be NT$230 million (US$7 million).
The show has received criticism, particularly from the KMT and Chinese state media, for its Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-linked funding. Some think the show is a propaganda tool used to rally support for the DPP. “The most outrageous part is that this video was deliberately released close to the election year,” said KMT lawmaker Wang Hong-wei (王鴻薇).
“There is a widespread backlash in Taiwan against the Democratic Progressive Party for promoting war anxiety and provoking conflict,” said China’s Defense Ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang (張曉剛) about the new show. “The DPP is risking cross-strait conflict by using the people in Taiwan for ‘Taiwan independence.’ Their action is harmful, destructive, unpopular and doomed to fail.”
“Zero Day Attack” is set to premiere on August 2 in Taiwan. International audiences will be able to watch the show in mid-August.
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