The Ministry of National Defense (MND) is to screen select scenes from the Taiwanese TV drama Island Nation 2 (國際橋牌社2), which portrays the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, to boost troop morale ahead of the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Wednesday next week to July 18, a military source said.
The ministry would screen the series for military officers and troops set to take part in the drills as part of this year’s “Morale and Psychological Readiness Education Program,” which runs through Thursday, said a military source involved in the designing of a previous edition of the program.
Launched in 2005, the program is held annually ahead of the live-fire portion of the Han Kuang drills and is aimed at bolstering service members’ patriotism and mental resilience by instilling in them the purpose of the military and the importance of combat preparedness.
Photo courtesy of the Public Television Service
Island Nation 2 producer Isaac Wang (汪怡昕) said a version of the series had been edited for the occasion, comprised of scenes depicting the experiences of Taiwanese soldiers stationed on Gaodeng Island (高登島), one of Taiwan’s frontline islands near the Chinese coastal city of Fuzhou.
The selected scenes portray the soldiers’ day-to-day training and how they supported one another to hold the frontlines at all costs during the crisis, Wang said.
Rather than “putting on a show for the higher-ups,” the program aims to elicit a response from its intended audience, the source said.
Island Nation 2, set against the backdrop of the Taiwan Strait Crisis from 1995 to 1996, resonates deeply with many service members, as it reflects a time and environment they can relate to, they said.
Compared with outdated anti-Japanese or counterinsurgency films and lectures, the series is far more effective at eliciting emotional responses, the source added.
Just as the 1996 crisis involved attempts by China to interfere in Taiwan’s democracy, today’s challenges are similar, the source said.
By showing the military’s role in defending democratic freedoms, the program also fosters a shared sense of purpose and unity among the troops, the source added.
Institute for National Defense and Security Research research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said the ministry’s decision to incorporate a Taiwanese drama into the program reflects a shift in policy toward more diverse and engaging approaches to boost the morale of service members.
This not only makes the program more effective, but also introduces opportunities to collaborate with domestic film and creative industries, turning defense education into a form of public-private partnership, he said.
The plot of Island Nation 2 is highly realistic, especially in the portrayal of events from the perspective of rank-and-file soldiers, making it easier to spark an emotional resonance, Su said.
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