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A TV show centring around a Chinese invasion is hitting just a little too near home in Taiwan.
On the surface, ‘Zero Day Attack’ might be just one other Hollywood thriller – air-raid sirens blasting, explosions ripping through buildings and swarms of military jets deployed – but it is a scenario persons are actually preparing for.
Taiwan, a self-governed democracy of 23.3 million people, has lived under the shadow of China’s threat for a few years.
The Communist Party claims the country as a part of its own territory and its imperialistic rhetoric has only grown more aggressive within the last decade.
The federal government has previously declared it’s ‘able to fight in any respect times’ because it concluded a military drill within the Taiwanese waters in 2023.
For this reason the 17-minute trailer has raised further alarm in Taiwan. Even the name, ‘Zero Day Attack’, refers to exploiting an unknown vulnerability, meaning that the goal has no time to arrange or defend against it.
Set to premier on Saturday, the show starts with a Chinese war plane going missing near Taiwan.
China then sends swarms of military boats and jets for a blockade because the island goes on a war footing. Panic ensues on the streets of the capital, Taipei.
After watching the primary episode within the Taipei premier last week, Blair Yeh, a 35-year-old engineer, said: ‘Presenting such a situation (of conflict) can result in more discussion about what we must always do if it really turns into reality at some point.’
A war with China has long been a too sensitive of a subject for the nation.
For instance, this has resulted in greater than half of the show’s crew asking to stay anonymous on the crew list, and a few people including a director pulling out of the production on the last minute, showrunner Cheng Hsin Mei said.
‘Zero Day Attack’ is being released as China has stepped up its military preparedness – including a minimum of six rounds of major war games previously five years and each day military activities near the island.
This threat is felt in Europe as well.
Only yesterday UK defence secretary John Healey confirmed that Britain is able to fight within the Pacific if a conflict breaks out over Taiwan.
Speaking on board the HMS Prince of Wales, alongside Richard Marles, the Australian deputy prime minister, he told The Telegraph: ‘If now we have to fight, as now we have done previously, Australia and the UK are nations that can fight together.
‘We exercise together and by exercising together and being more able to fight, we deter higher together.’
But Healey later admitted that he was speaking in ‘general terms’, and said the UK would favor to see any disputes within the Indo-Pacific resolved ‘peacefully’ and ‘diplomatically’.
China vs Taiwan: Which has a stronger military force?
It doesn’t take long to find out whether China or Taiwan overpowers the opposite with its military.
China possesses one in all the world’s largest forces, rating third behind the US and Russia in 2025.
Boasting a rapidly modernising force and the second-largest defence budget, it’s a transparent threat to most countries – and Taiwan specifically, which ranks twenty second overall.
Taiwan’s only advantage is its geography. As an island, the nation could prove a big military challenge to invade.
Water provides a natural barrier, making it harder for an enemy to land troops and supplies.
Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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