i see despite my confront multi-dose on policies and development to put the spotlight on issues that matter most. to security marshall. cannot has been achieved the so much more needs to be done and i feel people have to be a hard solutions my name is on the back and i walk in to tell you. this is the new asia coming up so close yet so far away sikhs in india have waited 70 years for easy access to this holy site will soon be able to along what many dubbed the peace corps. plus 30 years after the fall of the berlin wall and $989.00 was also the hero of the cannon and squares crackdown we speak to an acclaimed author on how those 2 events shape countries even today.

i'm melissa chan you're watching d.w. news asia thank you for joining us starting saturday 6 in india will now be able to pass visa free into pakistan in order to visit one of their holiest sites which sits just 4 kilometers past the border it will be the 1st time in 70 years that pilgrims will be able to do so. the shrine of guru narcan cartop or the final resting place of sikhism spawned or is one of the religions most sacred sites crews have been sprucing up the complex before pilgrims flock here to mark the 550th anniversary of girl who non-experts. the top war in northeast pakistan lies just 4 kilometers from the border with india until now pilgrims

couldn't just simply cross from. another shrine in india's punjab state which is home to the world's largest city community. 150 kilometers to the west the town in pakistan where grew and on up was born the. pilgrims gathered here are hopeful that the new corridor will make travel easier and help foster better ties between the 2 neighbors. there are some narrow minded leaders in both nations who don't like the idea of muslims and sikhs getting together and somehow causes them. but the truth is friendship will bring a message of peace for everyone in the coming days. there you know they got it all obviously brings india and pakistan together and such an amazing. this is happened and it's just amazing for us to be together.

india had long asked pakistan to ease border crossings for sick programs but plans were held up by diplomatic tensions. many hope the corridor a rare example of cooperation between india and pakistan will lead to further initiatives. we have our v.w. team shammal shans in karachi and emission gys while in delhi michel start with you there's people on the ground there talking about well this corridor really contribute to peace though. well of course most of that's a lot of enthusiasm accused within the sikh community this is a historically important site it's very important for the sikhs and that's been trouble accessing it for them and the boss because of the fact that it isn't pakistan so indian pilgrims have struggled to have this access on the fact that they've been to this cordova facilitate visa free travel has been seen as a ready positive sign how i what analysts have said that the should not be seen as

just an overall grand step towards peace but more as a confidence building measure between the 2 countries where tensions have been judy high especially off in the aftermath of the application of the special status of india ad mr bush meets right on the fact that even now this sniping between the 2 governments there's been a lot of criticism being raised so the aqua still about just how important a measure of the studio going to be right channel is that your sense in pakistan as well that that to this will help a little bit but not as much as people are saying on the ground well i believe any going to have people to be gone duct is always useful human rights are the reason. to want peace with india they have been saying for the past many years brumby decades that. there should be people to people contact and i think it is a step in that direction so it is extremely beneficial it is

a confidence building measure. said so it is a very good step at the same time you should not expect that old by their true disputes of outstanding disputes were. just by the fact that be open to all go to door tomorrow i just want to follow up on that prime minister khan how is he playing this politically zico going to benefit a lot from this. the islamist parties and some opposition groups have criticised their decision. com duke last november. he performed a ground breaking of the of the total so they say that it isn't it is a compromise of national sovereignty it is something which ship boxed on is conceding to do india off the oldest 5th decision to end promise to move the

aggregate did the media specialist dentist so why are you doing all these things students india ought to have the video when remains a dispute and there is criticism but at the same time we must understand that it is not only hans decision. former prime minister in the last year the. is one of the all architects of this quarter don't own with a little bit how do you want to fight and the focus on the army's playing a really big role and it's not just not on it's the box up calling the shots here and the media in india what do indian for think about this is this mostly a win for nobody. well it keys tell the government dispose shooting this melissa it's ready interesting to watch that all the dialogue go down because thought for quite a dog has been phrased in a way that is seen as pretty is far more the there's more drool even that much attribution appreciation for the fact that pakistan is joining hands with india to

establish the squad a bill allowing access to sequela grams in a very interesting 92nd clip that the home minister off this government released a few days ago there was even this phase use that under the guidance all frames to no demands more the border being meditate so this is seen as a huge victory for the prime minister more the but not so much dialogue about giving credit to pakistan alongside and in fact some senior political leaders here at a scene some kind of fall in place of this actually more fat in oil than appreciation all praise is being dogged did of the prime minister of india at least within india shama i'm a little curious about the actual accord or is it going to be that easy you just walk right across and a few minutes later you get to the site or is they say it's free but do you still need paperwork of any kind. of get his visa 3 different from this trip on said earlier that. all the billy graham's coming from in new york were not required

of all sports but the military spokesman said that it is not possible there must have their boss course but then again the foreign ministry recently said that. the group is coming from here were not required to go. one here so big concessions made huge concessions here i think you really want it to be a success. in karachi and as well in delhi thank you both. this saturday marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall when democracy prevailed over authoritarianism but $989.00 was a historic year for beijing's crackdown of student protesters on g.m. and square as well a moment when the opposite happened when authoritarianism trumped democratic forces joining us is christine as for author of post wall posts where she's thought about both events and how they've determined where we are today christine i want to start

by thinking about 10 men square in 1909 no one would have imagined china being as strong as it is today no. i think it was perhaps already visible at the time because think sharping who was behind this crackdown had also the view that the political liberalization should not go hand in hand with the economic opening to the world and china's opening to the market economy and he also said that if the chinese model namely holding onto the communist party as the regime that holds the country together that that would be if that would be successful over the next 20 or 30 years then that would be sufficient for china and the crackdown was then a wake up call to for for it for the chinese leadership then to continue on a certain path but not with a political liberalization like you said absolutely the chinese government thought that what gorbachev did in eastern europe and in the soviet union was absolutely wrong to combine political and economic liberalization and and to you know support

that also in eastern europe and there was a sort of sense that this is a but definitely not infect and spread to asia so they want to have their own own solution and follow their own compasses also into the future because their economic ambition was also always linked to political ambition in the long term to become one of the big powers well china certainly managed to. lay out its own path and i'm thinking about the events of in europe and with china recently we have a crime visiting beijing cutting a deal worth $15000000000.00 in terms of agreements you have germany talking and worrying about huawei and whether it should build out the 5 g. network in the country it's looking like european democracies have to have tough negotiations with a country they never thought of perhaps as being a tough negotiator yes absolutely i mean you have to see that if you look at all to

the trade numbers for the last couple of years that china really has spread everywhere it is the big deal economy power throughout the 3rd world into eastern. europe as well and of course what they saw also in 1989 and the americans in particular although they stick together vis a vis best in europe and raise too many rights and important to condemn what happened in china they also persecute the americans a back channel promised policy to keep the economic relationship going considering that china was planning to open to the world economy and that it's exactly a similar position we're in now sadly we don't see so much defending office that values spoken vis one voice by the transatlantic alliance but we do see the importance of keeping at least trade relations going because it cannot cut yourself off altogether since you're working in the world economy you talk about this tension the western values and then the need to be pragmatic because of global trade there is a conversation right now around the world about the rise of authoritarianism and in

battle democracies with the benefit of hindsight which you've already talked about a little what do you think we have to learn from what happened in both berlin and aging from 1909 for now i think what is really important to take away from 989 that there was this optimism and there was this holding on to certain values that everybody raised for if you look at europe and this idea of building a europe whole and free build around freedom and democracy and now that is all being questioned but the question of course is in europe do you want to live under an author terry in vain do you want to live for the russians call a pasta mr world order the new vote or that he entered in the early ninety's was that built on those values i just mentioned and of course together with the russians that was seen as universal common values. christina for thank you thank you. that's our show for today there's always more on our website d w dot com ford slash asia will leave you now with night images of the shine in

kut-o. pour that will be opened she seeks pilgrims from india starting this weekend thanks for watching we'll see you next time and goodbye. show hello planes this is new balls speaking welcome to the show with the ding dong . concerts. with filibusters gifts.

and then incredible location. groups released on t.w. . take it personally are you ready with all the wonderful people and stories that make the game so special. they're all truth. more than. mine. 2 steps forward one step back one day after the u.s. and china agree to roll back tariffs the white house seems for it to go through with it. and it's the biggest prize in german exports into the yids fresh down it gives some relief from recession fisi europe's biggest economy. and painful let's

do business china's foreign trade continue to fall in october exports strops slightly imports plunged trade with the united states is down almost 16 percent the trade war is making its mark on the world's 2 biggest economies and it's unclear if there's an end in sight a day after beijing announced an agreement between the 2 governments to roll back tariffs there are reports of backpedaling from washington. u.s. firms are among the thousands of companies taking part at the china trade expo they're hoping to keep doing good business in the country despite the trade dispute . the statement this week from the ministry of commerce in beijing is likely to have raised their spirits. or should i go over the past 2 weeks the chief trade negotiators of the 2 sides had serious and constructive discussions on how to resolve their respective core issues and agreed to cancel the other tariffs and stage.