China’s Ministry of State Security did not say that the TV series is based on a true story but it may provide some clues about how the ministry investigates what it regards as suspicious deaths.
The TV series, The Dark Tide is Raging, was launched by the ministry on its official WeChat account last Tuesday and features a scientist researching aerospace materials and is targeted by foreign spies who sabotage his car.
The plot may be an allusion to the accident that killed Colonel Feng Yanghe, one of the leading lights behind the artificial intelligence software used in China’s military simulations
Media reports said Feng was travelling in a ride-hailing car after leaving a Beijing airport when the accident happened last July.
The authorities have not released much information about the accident, but the National University of Defence Technology, where Feng worked, said he had “sacrificed his life while carrying out an important mission”.
In the drama, the scientist was working on technology used in “the engines and turbine systems of new-generation fighter jets” before the accident, where a hired car he was driving to the airport was sabotaged.
