Chinese TV Shows How Taiwan Invasion Would Look

A documentary series released by Chinese state media has imagined what an invasion of Taiwan by China might look like.

The 20-minute sixth episode of Quenching, aired by China Central Television, features a nationalistic display of military power, including drone-assisted operations, missile drills, and electronic warfare exercises as part of a larger simulated assault on Taiwan‘s defenses.

The episode also opens with a Chinese soldier expressing regret over the ongoing separation between China and Taiwan, while yearning for national unification—a recurring theme in Chinese state media.

The documentary delves into how the China’s People’s Liberation Army would use drones and helicopters to move troops to the island. Footage depicts fierce resistance from Taiwan’s forces, equipped with portable anti-aircraft missiles, similar to those supplied by the United States.

“As man-portable air defense weapons are widely used in battlefields, helicopters face significant threats [from oncoming fire],” one Chinese officer says in the broadcast.

China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a written request for comment.

China has significantly ramped up military activities near Taiwan in recent years, aiming to pressure the island’s leadership, with Chinese aircraft crossing the midpoint and de facto boundary between the neighbors in the Taiwan Strait.

Chinese war games have increased in scale and intensity, including the series of drills that followed the May inauguration of Taiwan President Lai Chingt-te, whom Beijing considers a “separatist.”

Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the Indo-Pacific Program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, told Newsweek that through Quenching, Beijing seeks to project a hardline stance on Taiwan.

“The Chinese Communist Party wants to demonstrate that it is resolved to defend the nation’s sovereignty, especially at a time that a new leader had taken power in Taiwan who is emphasizing that Taiwan is an independent sovereign state not subordinate to China,” she said.

Noting it’s impossible to predict how the domestic audience prioritizes the issue, Glaser continued: “My guess is that the state of the economy, youth unemployment, and other matters that affect people’s lives directly are at the forefront of the minds of average People’s Republic of China citizens, not Taiwan.”

Meanwhile, Taiwanese showrunners are set to release a TV drama in 2025 titled Zero Day, which will present the hypothetical conflict from the perspective of that side of the strait.

The show’s trailer, which dropped in July, hints at dramatic events such as a Chinese naval blockade, chaos on and bank runs in Taiwan, and the retreat of the Taiwanese military from the frontline island of Kinmen.

The Republic of China government fled to establish a rump state in Taiwan after being defeated by Mao Zedong’s communists in the Chinese Civil War in 1949.

The Republic of China for decades maintained it was the true government of China. Though its list of official allies has dwindled to a dozen, Taiwan remains de facto independent with its own democratically elected government, military, currency, and diplomatic relations.

However, China has pledged to unify with Taiwan and has not renounced the use of force to achieve this goal. In recent years ratcheting up warplane sorties and other military activities around the self-ruled island.

Some U.S. officials, including CIA Director Bill Burns and former Indo-Pacific Command chief Admiral John Aquilino, have said they believe Chinese President Xi Jinping is preparing his military to be capable of a Taiwan invasion by 2027.

In response to these growing threats, Taiwan has bolstered its defenses with key military purchases from the United States and has introduced its own programs, including the launch of its first indigenous submarine last year.

Taiwan has also raised the mandatory military service term for incoming recruits, extending it from four months to one year starting in 2024.