DEFENSE/Military to play war drama for troops before annual exercises: Source

Taipei, June 30 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) will screen selected scenes from the Taiwanese TV drama "Island Nation 2," which portrays the 1995-1996 Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, to boost troop morale ahead of the annual Han Kuang military exercises scheduled for July 9 to 18, according to a military source.

The MND will screen the series for military officers and troops set to take part in the nation's largest annual military drills, as part of this year's "Morale and Psychological Readiness Education Program," which runs through Thursday, a military source involved in the design of a previous edition of the program recently told CNA.

Launched in 2005, the program is held annually ahead of the live-fire portion of the Han Kuang drills and is aimed at strengthening service members' patriotism and mental resilience by instilling the purpose of the military and the importance of combat preparedness.

Isaac Wang (汪怡昕), a producer of "Island Nation 2" (國際橋牌社2), told CNA that a version of the series had been edited for the occasion, comprising primarily scenes depicting the experiences of Taiwanese soldiers stationed on Gaodeng Island, one of Taiwan's frontline islands near the Chinese coastal city of Fuzhou.

The selected scenes portray the soldiers' day-to-day training and how they supported one another to hold the frontlines at all costs during the crisis, Wang said.

Nowadays, rather than "putting on a show for the higher-ups," the program aims to effectively elicit a response from its intended audience, according to the source, a military official who asked to remain anonymous.

The source said that "Island Nation 2," set against the backdrop of the Taiwan Strait Crisis from 1995 to 1996, resonates deeply with many service members, as it reflects a time and environment they can relate to.

Compared with outdated anti-Japanese or counterinsurgency films and lectures, the series is far more effective at eliciting emotional responses, the source said.

Just as the 1996 crisis involved attempts by China to interfere in Taiwan's democracy, today's challenges are similar, the source said.

By showing the military's role in defending democratic freedoms, the program also fosters a shared sense of purpose and unity among the troops, the source added.

The Third Taiwan Strait Crisis refers to a series of missile tests China conducted in waters surrounding Taiwan in July 1995 following then President Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) visit to the United States and in 1996 ahead of Taiwan's first direct presidential election as intimidation.

Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the MND's Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the defense ministry's decision to incorporate a Taiwanese drama into the program reflects a shift in policy toward more diverse and engaging approaches to boost the morale of service members.

This not only makes the program more effective but also introduces opportunities to collaborate with domestic film and creative industries, turning defense education into a form of public-private partnership, he said.

Su pointed out that the storyline of "Island Nation 2" is highly realistic, especially in portraying events from the perspective of rank-and-file soldiers, making it easier to spark emotional resonance.