The Art of Living With Uncertainty in Taiwan
As tensions with China persist, Taiwan’s people are finding their own balance between preparedness and peace of mind.
On August 2, 2025, citizens across Taiwan saw images of air raid sirens, frantic crowds, and armed helicopters on their devices. News anchors relayed reports of an all-out Chinese invasion of the island. Was any of it real? No — it was the premiere of Zero Day Attack, a Taiwanese science fiction series depicting the People’s Liberation Army blockading the territory without warning. The work of fiction vexed people on both sides of the Strait. Chinese state media lambasted the show, saying it sent the “wrong signal” to the outside world. Critics in Taiwan agreed to some extent, claiming the series promoted one domestic party’s narrative and unnecessarily alarmed the public.
Zero Day Attack imagined and visualized an unthinkable scenario for many, again reviving the question: how much of the Chinese threat should enter daily life, and how much should the Taiwanese people plan for?
An Old Threat, Always Present
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has long threatened to “unify” the island of Taiwan with the mainland. In pursuit of this goal, the PRC has employed “gray zone” tactics to exhaust the Taiwanese people into favoring peaceful reunification. To date, China has relied on travel restrictions, cyberattacks, naval drills, and coercive trade measures to pressure Taipei. All the while, the threat of direct Chinese military force lurks in the background, with no way to know when—or even if—it might come.
Art Imitates Anxiety
The Washington Post found that as a sense of threat has grown, Taiwanese art and media have matched public anxieties. Films, television, video games, and board games depicting invasion scenarios have entered the market to mixed reactions. Some viewers find them unsettling, while others praise their realism.
Sentiment on the threat of invasion remains mixed. In Taipei, some residents have begun to take air-raid drills seriously, noting how the war in Ukraine makes their circumstances feel closer to home. On Kinmen, the Taiwanese island closest to mainland China, many remain skeptical that Beijing would risk a full-scale attack, believing it would be prohibitively costly. Others don’t want to prepare for or even discuss invasion possibilities for fear that the precautions themselves could provoke China. Whether due to generational, urban-rural, or cultural divides, Taiwan’s public mood varies widely. For some, drills and invasion-themed media feel unnecessary and unsettling; for others, they have become essential parts of civic life.
Echoes of Ukraine
A look back at Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine provides a useful retrospective on public sentiment under looming threat. A Kyiv International Institute of Sociology poll taken shortly before the invasion showed similarly divided views: 48.1 percent believed the threat was real, while 39.1 percent disagreed. Aligning public opinion on preparedness is difficult, and consensus may only emerge on the day a dramatic event happens. That leaves Taiwan’s government with a delicate task: not persuading people that war is possible, but shaping how society lives with that possibility.
Preparing for What May Never Come
How does a society prepare for a crisis that may never arrive? Each year, Taiwan holds drills that simulate a Chinese attack. Air raid sirens ring in Taipei, signaling for people to find shelter while businesses turn off their lights and lock their doors. Local governments also participate in “whole-of-society defense resilience” exercises, testing civilians’ emergency preparedness.
Authorities have distributed wartime scenario handbooks with evacuation maps and survival tips, while civic groups like Kuma Academy teach first aid, communications, and basic defense. “War impacts everyone,” the academy’s website notes, “and societal resilience requires citizens to defend themselves and contribute their skills.” Some Taiwanese have taken that message to heart: Al Jazeera reported on residents assembling go-bags, stockpiling essentials, and even training in fitness and first aid.
The Quiet Equilibrium
Even with Ukraine’s example fresh in memory, and with both government and civil society efforts expanding, life must go on. The tension between staying alert and staying sane has become Taiwan’s quiet equilibrium. Families might discuss evacuation routes at the dinner table, then return to the weekend plans. Teenagers scroll past civil defense posts on social media before landing on the latest celebrity news.
Fiction like Zero Day Attack may dramatize the island’s worst fears, but it also captures something deeper: the art of living normally in abnormal times. For now, most people in Taiwan seem to have made peace with uncertainty, carrying on as if tomorrow will come as usual — and making small, steady plans in case it doesn’t.
The views and information contained in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Asia Cable.
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