he grew up on a cocoa fall, but later graduated from university. his case is considered exceptional. i laugh yes, dropped out as my colleague of, i've always been doing. most of my might my, my phrase ladies go pregnant along the lines. across west africa, one and a half 1000000 children. i involved in cocoa for me, many work as farm laborers and, and less than a dollar or nothing at all with of wishes and agents. travel drawer to communities to buy cocoa beans for $60.00 a sac. but they sell a 2 or 3 times that on the international market. i think local farmer, how much will you n as the have ethical call their price even lower? as much as eaton again, as his audit. thank you. see our turns are closer to us. there is no quality education for them. ah, pharmacy attempts by western cocoa, biased to forestall prizes, is keeping hundreds of thousands of children out of school and condemning them to

a life of poverty. and they are you only by them receiving better prices an educator should be approved. could the lives of children like you know, can poor to decrease al jazeera, he imprinted ah, hello again, i'm fully batty boy. with the headlines on al jazeera israel has released along is held, palestinian prisoner will be detention for food 2 years. carry munious is also an israeli citizen. he was arrested in 1983 for allegedly attacking and he's really soldier in the golan heights. security officials have forbidden his friends and family from holding celebrations to mark his release. the vote for a new speaker in the us house of representatives will go into a 3rd day after republican kevin mccarthy last another round of voting. the european union is recommending passengers from china be tested for covey 19 before

they fly to u member countries. officials are urging old travelers to wear masks, se se passengers should be randomly tested. negative tests are also now required for people traveling from china to the u. s. and u. k. those arriving in south korea must provide a negative result before their flight and also take a p c r test. on arrival. the world health organization says it's concerned about how china is representing the outbreak. there are certainly issues in terms of the criteria for recording and reporting that's attributable to call with banking. we believe that definition is too narrow, which requires for failure association with my team to be registered as a corporate related debt. that is a very now definition. we know there are difficulties in all countries very often and recording hospital releases admissions use of i see you for some of these. but again, we believe that the current numbers being,

being published from china under represent the true impact of the disease in terms of hospital measures in terms of i see your patients, particularly in terms of that. and california governor has declared a state of emergency after powers of power for storm power to thousands of homes in the north road have been flooded entries uprooted in sacramento. us authorities have people to evacuate if they live in coastal areas vulnerable to my flies. and those are the headlines on al jazeera. i'll be back with more news after inside story. stay with us. talk to, i'll just a bend in by the international community. we listen, we are paying for the war against terrorism. what's going on in some money? we meet with global news makers. i'm talk about the story, respect matter. one out, you see the philippine president 1st. san marcos junior is in china. he wants to

improve economic and political ties with beijing. and china is hoping to woo him away from washington to what's at stake in this trip. this is inside story. ah hello and welcome to the program. i'm laura kyle. the philippines and china have had a mixed relationship over the years. the next stage of which both sides are looking to shape during present, van marco says juniors visit to be. jan miller has historically been a close ally of the us, but that relationship cooled somewhat. and the last philippine president adrica to tirty, who forged closer ties with beijing, china is the philippines most important trading partner. but they have significant

differences too, such as beijing's activities in the disputed south china sea. where's the philippines has called illegal? china, for its part says the visit we'll focus on regional and international issues of common concern. present. marcus says he's looking forward to increasing economic cooperation a the next few years with all of our a b r 8 with shot with our correspondent, katrina you is in beijing. she tells us what each side as hoping to get out of this trap. macos a 3 day visit to china, the 1st of 2023 included meetings, the, china's head of the national people congress lead done to the premier league chunk

and chinese president. she didn't pay it out. it's been a rocky relationship for these 2 countries over the past few years. but for slides has said that this visit marks a new chapter in the bilateral relationship. they both lead to increased cooperation in a variety of areas including economic growth and trade technology, infrastructure, energy, culture and tourism. and so both countries much is at stake. this visit comes amid infrastructure and energy crisis for the philippines. manila, china is that top trading pond and also a major source of tourism and foreign direct investment they gene. well, manila is of huge strategic importance. philippines is the closest country to taiwan, which beijing sees as a rome chinese territory. the philippines also has historically very close ties to the united states and aging is wanting to work to do whatever it can to minimize washington's improvement in the region. now there are 2 very major points of

disagreement which threatened to derail these ties. the 1st is the south china sea, trying to claim much of this disputed territory. despite the fact that an international court invalidated these claims in 2016 in favor of the philippines. but despite the aging, had continued to build artificial islands in the region. and the philippines was also complained about chinese ships swarming and intimidating filipino fishing boats. the 2nd point of contention is military ties with the united states. in november, us vice president come on, harris visited manila and asked to expand the us military presence in the country. and this issue has very much anger. katrina you out there invading for insights, doing well, let's take a closer look at the maritime dispute that katrina mentioned, just the china claims nearly the

well i think clearly as in so many complex issues. laura, the devil is in the details. that being said, i think both sides are very ready to take this bilateral relationship to the next level. as president marcos said he wants to go to a higher gear. the chinese side see this as hopefully ushering in golden era of china, philippines relations. and of course, i think ideally any outstanding issues, any areas that need to be further clarified should be worked out as a part of that. so laurie to how does ma course want to take the relationship to the next level? how does it want to deal with this dispute?

i think mark was, is really trying to balance the relations of the philippi. i between china and the us. this is up when you look at the pendulum while when former president bear, there was an office for the past 6 years when it comes to china now with mark what he's trying to reach out to both china and the u. s. and he already said yes. given strong statement saying that the police will not see any will not be of an inch of it's very sorry to say we did without naming china, but that was his strong message in july when he asked him the presidency. so i think he is trying to balance the relations between the 2 powers isn't oh, how difficult line is that from our costa tread between repelling territorial unwanted territorial claims by china in the south china sea,

but also wanting chinese investment well, cars just like what was said just now, namely mark gross was trying to balance between the united states and china is also at the same time trying to balance on the one hand is on a territorial dispute to china, on china. see on the nose with west b, c's on the one hand and on the other hand, trying to attract as much char chinese investment into the philippines. and in a sense, in law, the really been a freight, china as possible. so indeed, it is a very delicate balance, and i think this is the same sort of dilemma which a number of nitro south east asia, nations are facing nowadays. on the one hand, they have territory. disputes are china on the other hand of cause their well

chinese investments and trade sandy when, when she present, she says that he wants to handle these maritime issues and a friendly and consultative manner. what does that mean? because right now you've got a situation in the south china sea where we've got chinese boats harassing fishermen that are not chinese, others, philippines, or vietnamese. or even malaysian. we've also got chinese coast guard present, preventing the philippines bringing supplies to a ship, which i hope we'll talk about a little bit more later. so what it suggesting that's going to change its tone, talking about the south china sea. i think it exactly is the root cause that these issues are in dispute that leads to these misunderstandings and misperceptions as well or that are being exacerbated by external parties looking to drive a wedge between china,

philippine really and seaman will certainly western media, i think, is is one, i think other countries like the united states. however, i do think that the opportunity for the philippines here, i believe president marco's phrase did as friends all enemy to none. in that it is not a nary choice choosing between the us war china. and i think even china has repeatedly says that it does not see the world in these cold war binary manage she in terms of that it's complex, doubles in the details and ok, well, let me begin details a little bit more. murray, because when andy says that the western media is one external factor that's looking to drive a wedge between the philippines and china. do you agree with that?

no, i don't think so. because in the, in 28, been going to 16 robert, to me for ready warn the international or retail tried, you know, it was very clear that the case when decided by the international bread, you know, the trying to see that china 9 dash line claim has no historical minority go bases, so i think that's the starting point, but which china refuses to recognise and then repeat the said they will not pick up nice this international decision. in the meantime, philippines and china during the barrett this did here roll up, arise a certain verbal agreement. so allow filipinos who fish in barbara shaw which is actually quite of the philippines exclusive economic dawn and also not to

build oraclean on. i'm occupied either steps. there are some agreements already has been made. i think the big best for mark was really in the oil and gas exploration. because that's where the philippines will face crises, energy crisis in the next 3 to 5 years. and the philippines will need to survey and, and drill rather for oil and gas in read back. just confessed that area of the philippines. they cannot don't. but china nice disputing is ok. so yes, i know that is a key issue in this energy crisis. the whole. busy world is facing, do you think the philippines is going to be able to dig to explore for new oil and gas in this contested area? but typically the sub is asian countries are we talk about exploration, all power and gas. typically we would do it in conjunction with a number of very establish and guess, conglomerates in the world,

the shelves are not beliefs and so on. so when, well, when other countries are trying to do so, for example, malaysia, vietnam tried to do so. china, of course, was not very happy. and typically they were. ready in here, so it remains to be seen to what extent is this it by macros, junior, who china do interfere with billy beans or i guess the exploration all on the other hand, some sort of deal be made between china and the philippines. such that you will be the chinese conglomerates, i guess a rom rates, which would do those collaboration with their filipino counterparts in the exploring. and guess i would be very interested to see whether such a precedent would be made with the philippines except that the chinese conglomerate,

some leading the way you know that there have been negotiations for many years and they've reached at the end. because according to the philippine constitution, if the philippines partners with a chinese state own enterprise or a chinese company, this chinese company will have the knowledge philippine suffering right over read back the oil and gas resources there. and so the switch did, and because when be in the last year of the fair, this was the china refused to sign the proposed oil and gas development me to philip. we because of that precise position for vision were in the knowledge philippine sovereign rights over the area. so that's a bad and so i don't know how market will proceed. i don't know if there is a new way, but militia denisia,

we're able to drill in contest that area us using even the militia fan militia group. it's rhonda fence. it's maybe i think i'm both guard same with indonesia in as soon as i land the militia, indonesia were able to do this without china a partner. so did you think that she is ready to also allow the philippines to do this without china as a partner? well, i think we have to see, so this, at its heart is a diplomatic dilemma that can only be solved with diplomatic, awe, ingenuity and creativity. so we've seen this kind of our ingenuity and creativity before. look at the corner stone of the china u. s. relationship where there was a disagreement on taiwan yet a formulation was found are to let the relationship move forward. so again,

we can see it as a r a dilemma. ah, but hopefully a creative breakthrough are, can be achieved, letting both sides are derived benefit from this situation. and i am interested to know why it is that since the 2016 ruling by the u and back tribunal in the hague. time has not changed it's behavior in the south china sea. the u. n. back ruling declared that china's interest there were invalid, and yet it continues to build on islands. it continues to post that ships. there's a why they're not respect as ruling well nor i think we all know that countries have various reasons for dis, ah, agreeing or not accepting these multilateral rulings. the w t always

is a great example of that. so i think again, the doubles in the details, we have to see what will happen from here. but of course i think it's clear that for china has its reasons for saying that. look, we don't think this is an appropriate ruling that we're not ready to abide by. no, i don't know what the future will hold. but again, i think the most practical solution is a diplomatic one. right. as you wrote a book saying how the philippines, one is maritime case against china. and yet you haven't been able to move forward, haven't been able to take action with that when, why not? the philippines was able to, well, during the last of the day, he did not use the victory of the philippines to sell leverage to negotiate with china. so he sort of set it aside. in fact, people did like

a trash, a piece of trash belongs to the been because he was really when china, the best man and a the philippines now to be repressed. that mark was, if he had said that they are beatrice ruling. it's one of the pillars of the philippines for in policy. so let's see why he's reading a 3rd, this arbitrage victory, and how far he's willing to negotiate or displease china when it comes to white and gas. but that's a very sensitive area, and that's going to be the biggest best i think in relations with china. you know, all and gas is one main part of this fight over the south china sea. and other one is fishing by rich fishing grounds. also a huge amount of fish shipping goes through it. how dangerous is it to navigate these waters the middle of these contesting claims?

well at the moment you. ready the sub china in the center, one of the easiest, a concentration of shipping routes in the world. so of course, because most of those ships destine for chinese part of course, the chinese would not interfere with them. but of course, a lot of other countries, for example, the united states and so on, those ships destined for eventually the united states and let's say canada and so on. and if the united states are not a good terms, a china of cause, then they are worried about the permanent fixtures of china in china seas, india, to see whether they're in a sense in dirt shipping, which are all to let me just in the united states. as we saw,

the us vice president kind of harris visit the philippines in november. she went to an uncle, paula, paula one which is next to the contestant. sprightly islands. how provocative was that for beijing? well i think certainly we've seen, ah, an increase in the level of provocation or escalations by the united states. so i think overall, compared to say, policies visit to taiwan or other provocations. i don't, wouldn't put it in that category, but certainly i think it does. does add to increasing tensions in the region. and of course, you know, i think the big issue is a e, d. ca, we're the extended defense cooperation agreement and what happens, which is of course, related or to vice president or harris's visit. so are clearly,

this is a complex relationship i think are there is a lot of moving parts and are certainly this. are the u. s. are words and deeds are, are a play or an important part of this? oh, i wanted and he asked her to bring up the sierra matter. and van is a fascinating story of a naval set that the philippines purposely ran aground in this area back in 1999 to lay claim to a reef. our soldiers still on it and if it's attacked because it's still in commission, you could theoretically call on the us to protect it. actually, that's one of their discussion points. now, here in the philippines is when the u. s. i think in the philippines as the u. mutual defense treaty with the u. s. and the u. s. has already said that he's of ben shine in south china sea. where in the philippines is armed,

they will come to the aid of facilities that be made clear in precedence by my enduring residence from so. but the philippines, of course, once avoid any, once they leave the west frequency reaches, are part of the south china sea. that's why they feel it clean may be convenient to resupply, who share my despite the status of the ship when been used to resupply, but china doesn't want the sand construction materials that is one of their red lines. so the philippines is only able to supply food and water, but map construction materials. so i don't know how long this will last and what you arrange man, and mark costs come up. it is flocks. we china. there are

a number of flash points here on the east on i wonder how they will play out given the new relationship. but marcos and see i hoping to, to build but a month plus family of course long running very cold. your relationship with china . i recall seeing videos of a news traffic and so on. and now a day of a lot of these asian countries, the philippines included and the nation. well, we are not exactly the best of economic shapes. and unfortunately the united states and many other western countries are not in a position or are willing to. ready to invest and trade more with us. in fact the united states for example, calling up on it. ready even existing investors,

so let's see, to sort of real a, back to the united states and that off of, you know, it, it, it's, it put us in very difficult position. on the one hand, a number of is asian countries perhaps. well, some of this us freedom on navigation patrols and so on, over some parts of a c. on the other hand, tells us that would have been nice. china and the united states is not investing more in the region. so this countries would need to sort of give it to work in terms of trade and investment banking relationship to keep an eye on in the thank you very much to all our gas for joining us today. and the more communities we took and eastern and thank you to for watching, you can see the program again any time by the single website that's al jazeera dot com. and for further discussion, do go to our facebook page. that's facebook dot com, forward slash ha inside story. you can also join the conversation on twitter hamlet

at a j inside story from me, laura kyle and the whole team here. it's bye for now. the latest news as it breaks this particular sub station that's been here in 3 separate effects. why 6 russian we saw with detailed coverage, they had hope that the u. s. would relax water pandemic restrictions this week, which would likely have shattered their odds of getting in from around the world. although we 1000000 people looked at a 3 m one aside for you and then nick b and the national team for scientists, the evidence is irrefutable. but the american climate change denial stubbornly mistrusted the fact. despite soaring temperatures,

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