A trailer for Zero Day, a Taiwanese TV series portraying a Chinese attack on the island has stirred a tide of emotional response.
The nearly 18-minute teaser depicts China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) landing in Taiwan after a presidential election, where a “political power vacuum” has also left society vulnerable. China then creates a blockade in Taiwanese waters under the pretext of a search-and-rescue mission after one of the PLA’s “Y-8” planes reportedly goes missing.
The trailer has drawn more than 307,000 views on Youtube with nearly 3,500 comments.
The 10-episode series is partly funded by the Taiwanese government as part of the cultural ministry’s “1 plus 4-T-content plan.” The trailer’s release this week coinciding with annual air raid drills which aim to prepare Taiwan’s 23 million residents in the event of an invasion by the Chinese military.
Beijing has threatened to take over the self-ruled territory, using force if necessary.
Another key funder of the series is Robert Tsao, founder and former chairman of United Microelectronics Corporation, Taiwan’s second-largest contract chipmaker.
Local media reported that Zero Day is set to air next year, with the show’s producer aiming to strike a deal with a major international streaming platform to release the series.
Cheng Shin-mei is the producer and screenwriter of Zero Day, with Lin Shih-ken serving as executive producer.
Actors slated to appear in the series include Japanese actor Issei Takahashi and Hong Kong-Taiwanese veteran actor Chapman To, as well as Lien Yu-han, Kaiser Chuang and Ko I-chen.