A lengthy trailer for a new Taiwanese TV series about China invading Taiwan is stirring up emotions and debate both on the self-ruled island and among Chinese.
The show "Zero Day" tells the story of a Chinese anti-submarine aircraft flying into the waters southeast of Taiwan and disappearing in the lead up to Taiwan’s presidential election, giving China an excuse to blockade Taiwan and then launch an invasion.
The 17-minute trailer released July 23 has racked up more than 800,000 views and depicts increasing tensions with a seven-day countdown before China’s invasion. It shows psychological and cognitive warfare as Beijing hacks Taiwan’s communications and replaces them with the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda.
The TV series has 10 episodes of independent stories, has been filming since March, and is expected to be completed by the end of November for broadcast next year.
Hsin-mei Cheng, the production manager of "Zero Day," tells VOA it’s not just an action show meant to entertain. She says “Zero Day” aims to raise Taiwanese people's awareness of the threats already coming from Beijing.
"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 actually 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 steps up military rhetoric, exercises, and monitoring around Taiwan in the lead up to politically sensitive events, such as its 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 says a scene where a Taiwanese social media influencer calls for Taiwan to surrender before the invasion rather than fight “their own people” seemed real.
"People who may not usually think about (China's infiltration) should start thinking about it,” says Liu, “at least (strengthening) 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, says the trailer shows what he would expect if war broke out, including the chaos at the grassroots level and some people's immediate surrender and collaboration.
He notes many high-ranking officials and influential people in Taiwan have sent their children abroad to study, and wonders if party and government leaders would hold on to the last moment as shown in the trailer if war breaks out.
"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,” he says. “Those with the ability and dual nationality have run away in advance."
But the trailer also shows a Taiwanese son choosing to stay and fight as his parents join others in fleeing the island before the invasion.
Other Taiwanese disagree with how the show’s trailer depicts what would happen if China invaded.
Chien-yu Chen, a retailer of car accessories in Taiwan’s southwestern coastal city of Tainan, says the possible actions by China against Taiwan were too smooth and there was no counteraction shown from Taipei.
"Whoever chooses to watch the show has already chosen a certain political stance,” he says. “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.
"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," posted a Chinese military blogger under the name "Foreign Affairs Pioneer Zhang Zhidong."
Nationalist Chinese commenters said the show was full of people who support Taiwan’s independence and boasted if war really starts, they would not give Taiwan so much time.
A commenter under the name "boomxwk" from Guangdong posted on social media, "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 inside China, when “Zero Day” is released next year, the show will have to get past China’s internet censorship machine, known as the Great Firewall, to reach a larger Chinese audience.
Beijing’s censors have an unspoken zero tolerance policy for any content on Taiwan that depicts China as the aggressor.
Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
