A Chinese war plane goes missing near Taiwan. China sends swarms of military boats and planes for a blockade as Taiwan goes on a war footing. Panic ensues on the streets of Taipei.
That is the premise of Zero Day (零日攻擊), a new Taiwanese TV drama envisioning a Chinese invasion. It 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.
However, as China continues to step up military threats, including conducting daily military activities close to Taiwan, the upcoming drama confronts the fear by setting the 10-episode series around a Chinese invasion of the nation.
Photo: CNA
“We thought there is freedom in Taiwan, but in film and TV production we are restricted by China on many levels,” Zero Day showrunner Cheng Hsin-mei (鄭心媚) said.
China has a much larger market for film and television. Taiwanese entertainers are popular there, partly due to language and cultural similarities.
However, creators in free and democratic Taiwan are indirectly confined by Beijing’s powerful state censorship, Cheng said.
Beijing has regularly called out Taiwanese artists seen as going against China’s political ideology and has threatened to blacklist those unwilling to cooperate.
For the Zero Day crew, confronting such a sensitive topic means facing difficulties, from funding and casting to finding places to film.
Cheng said more than half of the Zero Day crew asked to remain anonymous, and some people, including a director, pulled out of the production at the last minute due to worries it might jeopardize their future work in China or concerns about the safety of their families working there.
“Our freedom is hard-earned,” Cheng said, adding that people should not give in easily due to fears over China.
“The [Chinese] People’s Liberation Army has launched substantial incursions against us and they are getting closer and closer,” she said. “We should look at this directly rather than pretending that it is not happening.”
The show, which is set to be broadcast online and on yet-to-be announced television channels next year, is already creating buzz in Taiwan after the extended trailer went online in July.
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 nation.
“Without freedom, Taiwan is not Taiwan,” a fictional Taiwanese president says in a televised speech in the show’s trailer, urging unity after declaring war on China.
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.
Milton Lin, a 75-year-old Taipei resident, said he was grateful the TV series was putting a spotlight on the threats by China.
“It helps Taiwanese to understand that we are facing a strong enemy trying to annex us and how we should be on guard with unity to face such an invasion,” he said.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
‘LIKE-MINDED PARTNER’: Tako van Popta said it would be inappropriate to delay signing the deal with Taiwan because of China, adding he would promote the issue Canadian senators have stressed Taiwan’s importance for international trade and expressed enthusiasm for ensuring the Taiwan-Canada trade cooperation framework agreement is implemented this year. Representative to Canada Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) in an interview with the Central News Agency (CNA) said he was increasingly uneasy about Ottawa’s delays in signing the agreement, especially as Ottawa has warmed toward Beijing. There are “no negotiations left. Not only [is it] initialed, we have three versions of the text ready: English, French and Mandarin,” Tseng said. “That tells you how close we are to the final signature.” Tseng said that he hoped Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT: Japan and the US are expected to hold in-depth discussions on Taiwan-related issues during the meeting next month, Japanese sources said The holding of a Japan-US leaders’ meeting ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to China is positive news for Taiwan, former Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association representative Hiroyasu Izumi said yesterday. After the Liberal Democratic Party’s landslide victory in Japan’s House of Representatives election, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is scheduled to visit the US next month, where she is to meet with Trump ahead of the US president’s planned visit to China from March 31 to April 2 for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Japan and the US are expected to hold in-depth discussions on Taiwan-related issues during the
RSS