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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Yu-chen Li in Taipei

‘This is seriously bold’: How China turned Taiwan tensions into a top-rating TV spy drama

The Long Watch TV series.
The Long Watch TV spy drama has captivated viewers in China, mixing real-life and fictional tensions with Taiwan. Photograph: Youtube

After shaking off the people trailing her through a crowded market and emerging from a bathroom in disguise, the double agent appears to have escaped. But a sip of water on a plane eventually gets her. She is poisoned after Taiwan’s military intelligence service discovers that she has been working secretly for China.

The plot comes from a new Chinese spy drama co-produced by the Ministry of State Security. Since its premiere on 6 September, it has become a TV hit, with a fictionalised take on a subject rarely treated so directly: the modern history of tensions with Taiwan.

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