‘Zero Day,’ Drama Depicting China’s ‘invasion of Taiwan,’ Rings Alarm; ‘Everyone Must Talk About Issue Now,’ Producer Says

By Masatsugu Sonoda / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

2:00 JST, November 10, 2024

TAIPEI — “Zero Day,” an upcoming 10-episode Taiwan TV series, is the first drama to depict a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

Shooting has been progressing well, and the series is drawing attention.

The work attempts to tackle head-on a grim theme as Chinese military coercion has become commonplace. The production team hopes the series will sound the alarm over the threat Taiwan faces.

In a trailer for the series, China blockades the waters surrounding Taiwan under the pretext of a search and rescue operation for a missing Chinese military aircraft.

In the show, Chinese hackers conduct cyberattacks, and collaborators stage a rebellion, sending microchip stocks plummeting and causing foreign nationals to evacuate the country.

“When I saw the trailer, I also felt tense,” said Su Tzu-yun, director of the Division of Defense Strategy and Resources, the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, who is an advisor for the production. He was speaking about how the series portrays the emergency scenario in the real context of China routinely diffusing disinformation, conducting election interference and attempting to infiltrate the island by approaching Taiwanese soldiers.

Producer and script supervisor Cheng Hsin-mei said that invasion by China is a sensitive topic in Taiwan and that Taiwanese people have always avoided talking about it. She said that if a war broke out between China and Taiwan or if Taiwan became a part of China, Taiwanese people would lose the chance to talk about that topic, which is why everyone must talk about it now. That is the purpose of the drama, she said.

Cheng has recruited nine directors, ranging in age from their 30s to 60s, to incorporate a variety of opinions on what choices Taiwanese people would make in an invasion scenario. Experts in military affairs and other fields cooperated in writing the script.

Of the production cost of 230 million Taiwan dollars (about ¥1,096 million), 30% came from the Taiwan authorities in the form of financial support.

Opposition parties criticize the drama as propaganda for the Democratic Progressive Party administration, which has distanced itself from mainland China.

Nevertheless, the trailer for the drama has been viewed more than 1.96 million times and received a positive response.

Besides actors and actresses from Taiwan and Hong Kong, Japan’s Issei Takahashi and Asami Mizukawa also appear in the drama.

Cheng said some of the directors and actors she approached about taking part in the film declined, citing concerns about being driven out of the Chinese market.

The drama will be completed as early as next March.