We speak to Hsin-mei CHENG, producer of the 2025 television series “Zero Day Attack” (零日攻擊) - a 10-episode drama that imagines Taiwanese internal divide and cohesion after the Chinese PLA have launched an invasion of Taiwan.

She speaks about her experience developing the show and the challenges of censorship and self-censorship in the creative industries in Taiwan.

Hsin-Mei CHENG (鄭心媚) is an award-winning screenwriter of television drama that often tell stories of Taiwanese society after WWII. She began her career as a print journalist covering national disasters and crises, most notably the 921 Earthquake in 1999 and the SARS outbreak in 2003.

The episode was recorded on August 3, 2025, one day after the release of the first episode.

The term Zero-Day (Z Day) that’s used to describe the notional date of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan was first used by American security analyst Ian Easton in his 2017 book, “The Chinese Invasion Threat”. He laid out the Zero Day scenario: first by blockade, then amphibious landing, then a total takeover of Taiwan.

In computer terms, Zero-Day (0-Day) is a security flaw of the software, hardware, or firmware that’s unknown to developers, thus creative a vulnerability against cyberattacks.

CHENG explains that for Taiwan, the most vulnerable period would be the four months between a presidential election (January) and the inauguration of a new president (May).

And this is exactly the setting for “Zero Day Attack”.

Each episode is about a different aspect of society: military, media, cyber attack, religious and business communities, etc; to imagine how Chinese infiltration would affect the mindset of the Taiwanese public.

Developing the series was not an easy task.

CHENG discusses how self-censorship in the creative industries have typically prevented political stories from being developed, funded, and produced. In her decade-long experience as a screenwriter, it had been a common experience to receive contracts requiring cast and crew to not make public statements on political issues, for fear of jeopardizing a production’s distribution in China.

Potential funders shied away from the “Zero Day Attack” project. Many actors - or in some cases, an entire acting agency - refused participation. To this day, half of the crew members have stayed anonymous.

Since the release of the series on August 2nd, rumors have spread that crew members who participated in the show are now blacklisted from work with some production houses.

“Zero Day Attack” (2025, 10 episodes) premiered on Public Television Service in Taiwan on August 2, 2025. It’s available for streaming in Japan through Amazon Japan; and in Taiwan on PTS+, Line TV, MyVideo, and Hami Video.

(Global premiere for Episode 1 was in May 2025 at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit.)

Research and editing by Wayne Tsai, Zack Chiang, and Vera Wu.

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On July 26th, a third of Taiwan will vote on recall referendums (大罷免) for 24 legislators throughout Taiwan.

Our guest is Nathan F. Batto, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Political Science, Academia Sinica. Taiwan watchers also know him as the writer of Frozen Garlic wordpress on Taiwanese elections.

We discuss how we got here: the KMT/TPP coalition in the legislature, the passionate activists who have been organizing the nation-wide movements; how the recall threshold was lowered in 2016 after the Sunflower Movement; the social cost of participating in recall bids, and how that affected the success rate of bids in cities versus in rural communities; And the impact of a perpetual election cycle.

Facts & figures:

• This recall will affect 24 legislators, ie: more than a quarter of elected seats. (Taiwan’s legislative assembly is made of 113 seats. 79 are elected directly by constituents in districts. Another 24 are composed of party seats as decided by proportion of party votes.)
• All 24 legislators up for a recall on July 26th are from the Kuomingtang (Nationalist Party, KMT).
• To meet the recall threshold, number of votes in favor of removing a lawmaker must exceed the number of votes against; and surpass 25% of eligible voters in that district.
• By-elections will be held in the fall. If the DDP gains six seats in the legislature as a result, they will gain majority.

Support Ghost Island Media by donating on Patreon http://patreon.com/taiwan

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Michael Caster (Head of Global China Programme) and I-Chen Liu (Asia Programme Officer) are researchers from the international non-profit organization ARTICLE 19, whose report “Cybersecurity with Chinese Characteristics” (2025) outlines PRC’s influence over cybersecurity norms in 3 Indo-Pacific countries: Indonesia, Pakistan, and Vietnam; and with a Taiwan alternative.

The Digital Silk Road is an umbrella concept that includes policies, priorities, tools, technologies, and tactics of a digital nature under the larger Belt and Road Initiative. Launched in 2015, it’s how PRC promotes its cybersecurity and digital governance norms and technical standards across the world.

It does this through public and private partnerships with Chinese tech companies that provide capacity-building initiatives: 5G cyber security test labs ​​in Malaysia, mobile payment in Thailand, data centers in Nepal, surveillance cameras in Phnom Penh and Kathmandu, submarine cables in Cambodia, and satellite systems for Thailand. While receiving such technology, recipient countries have also adopted PRC-style censorship and regulations into their legal framework. Examples include Vietnam’s 2018 cybersecurity law, which regulates aspects including content moderation and data localization.

The PRC is now pushing for multilateral cooperation through institutions like the UN, ASEAN, and other state-led forums. It has established additional bodies like the Global Security Initiative, Global Development Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative to further the standardization of PRC-style norms.

The researchers warn of the impact on democracy and freedom of speech this could have on the recipient country. “When China talks about multilateralism, they're doing it as a renouncing multi-stakeholderism approach; Denying civil society, the tech sector, academia, other independent actors. They're denying them a seat at the table”, says Caster.

The PRC-style of digital government becomes a toolkit for the authoritarian actor on how to use cybersecurity laws in the name of promoting safety or national security; but it’s actually introducing potentially humanitarian disaster laws that will impact the right to freedom of expression and the right to privacy.

Notable is the upcoming United Nations Cybercrime Convention in Vietnam, dubbed The Hanoi Convention, which has been rescheduled from July to October, 2025.

The Cybersecurity with Chinese Characteristics report ends with Taiwan’s democratic model of defending cybersecurity, which ensures the participation of civil society, as an alternative model to curb digital authoritarianism.

This report follows “The Digital Silk Road: China and the Rise of Digital Repression in the Indo-Pacific” (2024) which includes case studies from Cambodia, Malaysia, Nepal, and Thailand.

To access this report: https://www.article19.org/resources/china-taiwan-cybersecurity/

Support Ghost Island Media: http://patreon.com/taiwan
Follow and tag us on social media:
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A Ghost Island Media production: www.ghostisland.media

Support the show: https://patreon.com/Taiwan

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.