as we take on the world. or the stories that matter to you. ever. go. through my arms. you're watching news asia coming up today it's election day in an election week and we sat down with india's foreign secretary harshvardhan shrink a lot to discuss his country's important relationship with the united states we also asked him about 2 of india's was difficult relationships pakistan and china. i'm melissa chan welcome to news asia thank you for joining us it's election day in

the united states and today and all this week we'll be looking at the impact of the vote on countries across asia one of the most important relationships for the u.s. in the entire pacific is it's in gage meant with india the 2 countries together with japan and australia form part of what is known as the quad for democracies in a clear counterpoint to china the region's large authoritarian state we sat down with india's foreign secretary harshvardhan to discuss regional politics we started by asking him whether there'd be any change with a biden presidency especially given president dollar trump and prime minister narendra modi's great personal admiration for each other. all relations with the united states really based on bipartisan support you see it in congress you see it in public lives we do believe that we've forged a relationship that today is has been disturbed by his is very comprehensive and

marcie faceted. be not only share the same values and principles but he also i think have the same city just vision in what could be a biological region in multilateral relationship now a prime minister more these relationship with president trump i have been special but you have to remember that from some of these relationship with president obama was also very special i remember that state dinner that president obama held. in my correct and hearing that you believe that regardless of who wins the presidency of the united states the relationship will fundamentally not change vice president biden who is the democratic candidate has also made it very clear in many of his statements that he values a strong india u.s. strategic partnership so that is common to both president trump and president by now i want to talk a little bit about the quad and the recent meeting there you have australia japan

and knighted states in india like minded countries that there are shared values of being democracies i imagine that if you were sitting in beijing it kind of looks like in circle moment how would you respond to people who say that. well. the chord is a grouping of countries which have the same vision of a free open transparent indo-pacific region an international rules based order. international freedom of navigation in global commons and also issues such as open connectivity respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states you seem to be working to bolster the capacities and the abilities of countries in the pacific with as it is in tragedy in a manner that is what constructive and corporate are. you mentioned open

connectivity and borders let's talk about borders 1st the last 24 hours there's been a report in bloomberg about the fact that some 300 square kilometers that used to be administered by india is now administered by china and i'd be interested in your response your comments to that report clearly there to be believe that you know the . situation has involved some level of duty ssion in terms of. it has contributed to do titian in terms of the ties between our 2 countries because of the unusual step of china to seek to unilaterally order the status quo you have to keep in mind that there is no common perception of the border but yet if you seek to change the current. line with troops then of course it does impact on the knowledge of the asian ship concerned that china has taken this step. very very clear that we will stand firm and as

a new pin i would. resolve not to allow it that it totally addicted to your sovereignty to be compromised but i want to make sure do you confirm or deny the characterization from the reports that china's actually administrating 300 kilometers square kilometers more of territory that they did not have at the start of this year but i'm not aware of red room work is getting its information from but i can tell you that as far as we're concerned says indian officials familiar with the situation you're asking me and i'm telling you that as far as vehicles and we will not compromise and that according to existing. i want to ask about another neighbor of yours in terms of relationships up pakistan's prime minister imran khan recently called india a fascist state inspired by the nazi regime this is what he said to ajor men news outlet what is your response to that election only see that is coming from the prime minister of

a country that does not recognize the state of israel that still no does not acknowledge that the holocaust took place that has provided the sea of sanctuary for us on bin laden and mullah omar of the taliban years after $911.00 a country that today has a date which is higher than its g.d.p. a country that has enormous social economic problems and political problems not with an intact coalition of all the opposition parties seeking to unseat the same non-con and those who back him from the deep state and it is clearly an attempt to distract international attention and domestic attention from his own problems that iran kind of making this statement i mean i mean considering his situation and pakistan's own approach towards try legalism terrorism and issues that are important to the international community he really shouldn't be making such irresponsible statements you allow me this question of someone who was born in hong

kong you talk about rules based a lot of rules can be interpreted you have been broken in hong kong is this a matter of concern for india as a matter of policy we don't comment on on what becomes the internal affairs of states we have said that there is a large community of indian origin there's a large indian community in hong kong so we are watching the situation with some level of attention. and concern and we will continue to do so. secretary thank you very much thank you so very much for this. we have a non-christian an intern i join us to provide more context following our interview with a fine secretary he is the handles china correspondent and also the author of india's china challenge and on 3 tests her the foreign secretary they're not really giving a clear response about whether china really did capture all that territory your

thoughts they melissa it is understandable for 2 reasons i think the 1st is negotiations are ongoing there at 7 really unsuccessful rounds of talks at the military level but are gone nowhere and i think that that's why they're being a little connacht i think the 2nd reason is it is a domestic political issue in india and the more you government has been coming out of fire from the opposition we're really not are handling that china problem at the border or slighting the government doesn't really want to come out and say that more so much territory and i think from my own point of view melissa right from the start it think that the government really could have been a little bit more transparent and it grew actually helped india link with this by showing to the word that it was china an occupant of the senate sheehan sought to redraw the line of actual control and the government could have actually publicly taken a standard toward china listen these are the deadlines we have to return to status quo or so i think i find it a little puzzling why the government's actually been reluctant to actually spell

out what actually down the restoration is a long line of action drawn in where china has made ingress is an occupied territory. do you think there's a lack of trust on the indian side when they look at the activities of the chinese and the south china sea that they can ever really speak to the chinese and come up with a resolution on the border issue but unfortunately melissa that's the only way i don't think either country really wants a conflict and i as difficult as it is i think it's going to be a combination of continuing to talk and be this levels between military commanders between diplomats in beijing and delhi but at the same time keeping up a very fond defensive posture as india has done it in office india actually occupied several strategic rights that have given it somebody in power the negotiations that it did not have previously so i think the whole both sides can find a meeting of minds but i think there is still some skepticism in india that china after mobilizing all these troops in early may really walk back from all turkey

that again i think that's something that is going to be very difficult for india to achieve a return of the status quo which is what india has publicly demanded while this is election week so i'm curious do you agree with secretary assessment that the bilateral relationship between india and the u.s. won't change where guy less of who wins either trump provided. i would draw army agree that i think that the sec sort of our motivations and a resolution ship won't change it's quite interesting melissa that india is a bit unique among many countries and actually having quite a fond sort of experience dealing with some of the last 4 years there have been issues on trade i mean who hasn't had issues with trump on trade but in terms of the defense relationship in terms of the city's relationship actually they gave us visions of us down tell us. but and with the prime minister modi just one at that instant that just last week the week before the election you know you had secretary of state michael there and the defense secretary mark s.

were come to delhi for talks just a week before the election and i think the message really was with us that this is going to be a long term strategic relationship and the fact that they signed this for a really important military defense agreement for sharing geospatial information i think really shows how the layout of the she allies there is a very close defense partnership that is growing even more close and we're growing even more stronger and a governess of adults from provided in the white house i think that is going to continue they's going to be a broader conspiracy even if there will be some differences and i think one minor point of concern to india is a democratic administration tends to be more out spoken on issues such as human rights situation in question is something red really didn't want to get involved so i think they mean government is aware they will be small changes but i think there is a realization that the broader quantiles of the relationship really have a bipartisan investments in washington right now and i think that's a huge positive for the india resolution ship and a sign of how much has grown over the last 1015 years where else do you see the

u.s. and india working together. i think that is one big gap when it comes to economic cooperation and i think that india us all said enterprise quieted down quite a bit in terms of security dies there will be having huge exercises the malabar naval exercises this leak where the only i think they have lagged behind is and actually coming up and fighting an alternative to countries in the region in asia when it comes to financing whether over land on chinese financing still even though there has been some pushback to the belt and the order to ship me here from countries such as sri lanka or an instance where it's going to go to a finding that really aren't many other sources besides china and i think the only other countries should step up if they really want to provide a credible alternative to china and the region where shankly must say they haven't done us and i'm thank you. that's it for now be

sure to check out our other stories on dot com for slash asia or on facebook and twitter tomorrow wednesday will be in all election program we'll look at how the u.s. election and who wins will impact countries in asia and consequently the lives of people in each place thanks for watching and goodbye. pursuit of drama competition rivalry marketing numbers atmosphere power at sac intuition love hate money. fans friends fans fans and fans. on you tube joining us. the coronavirus pandemic. has the rate of infection been developing. good measures are being.

worked as the latest research says. information and context. the coronavirus of the kobe special monday to friday on. the sound of silence is filling concert halls here in germany we'll tell you why top musicians are staging silent protests amid the government's new walk down that's coming up here on arts and culture and later on the show reading architects have a go at designing for dogs what are the dogs think about it. first though a new documentary on one of the most ambitious climate projects to date a campaign. it's a plant a wall of trees right across africa the trees are meant to stop the spread of the

sahara desert creating more stability for people living on its edges american director jared pisgah documents the project in the great green wall a film that's also a musical journey across africa. africa a continent of diversity with the youngest population on the planet. but it's. the scene of conflict and crises brought on by climate change. 60000000 people are expected to leave by 25th. what else can you do. then try to find a better life. madeon musician an activist. takes the viewer on an epic journey through africa. my region that's been heavily affected by climate

change through the music more just hopes to promote the great green room project. tree planting campaign that aims to plant. long green belts of forest and greenery across the continent of africa. the goal is to stop. 8 the film is a musical road movie with more just singing about the subject closest to hearts following which. was pretty. and i thought oh no i've read now my. first stop senegal this is where the great green war has made the most progress across 150 kilometers 12000000 trees have been planted creating wealth out.

another stop or more just journey is nigeria here climate change has made the country's conflicts ever more acute. like shan't a source of livelihoods for millions her shrunk by almost 90 percent the terror organization boko harm its rise in part to social unrest brought about by climate change. people ask themselves what do i have left should i join an armed group go to the city try to reach europe. the great green war project is about creating a viable future for over $1000000000.00 young africans if it doesn't succeed there will be more migration so far only 15 percent of the green war is completed

continents fate hangs in the balance. my colleague melissa holroyd is here to tell us more this is such a humongous project isn't it yeah it's epic and if it's completed it would be the largest living structure on the planet it would be 3 times the size of the great barrier reef. yeah well they hope to be completed by 2030 they started in 2007 where over half way there and. now let's talk a little bit about you know my general. main person in this film with her she's really a powerhouse she's not just a singer as she knows she's done a whole lot of things she's also a model she's been on the catwalks of paris and around the world she's been on fire she's got 3 best selling albums and what she does the documentary is broken up into

chapters and in each chapter she meets with local musicians and i collaborate and they put together they put together songs to create an album to raise money for all the great great will so there's a chapter about each of these countries along what will be the great green wall this is also just. film project and you know mojo's one of the big names involved there are some other big names i believe to have a map from and on the rare this is oscar nominated brazilian director he did city of gold and also as you mentioned jared p. scott he's done a number of documentaries in the past with none chomsky and he says that he was motivated to put together the documentary because he felt that the people that are suffering the most in the world from climate change have contributed the least to climate change so he says that the justice yeah a real sense of justice and also he says that it's

a real story of hope and result and of course he wants to get more of the wall actually built so the documentary uses the great green wool more as sort of a metaphor rather than sort of a literal story i mean it's all it's also really being built but as a metaphor as to how these different countries are dealing with climate change and each of these chapters deals with a different problem that's being addressed there are some very positive stories one of them is ethiopia is the chapter on ethiopia i don't have to remember in the 1980s you're probably too young to remember but there was there were terrible terrible famines in ethiopia that saw hundreds of thousands of people die so then very greening of of the place has really had some very very positive effects you know with the whole right thanks so much for coming on the show. culture makers here in germany say the government is silencing the arts with its new coronavirus

rules musicians around the country posted silent protest videos against germany's new partial lockdown on monday night that included the hamburg philharmonic and conductor can't not going to well this week germany's shut down concert halls theaters museums and cinemas till at least the end of the month while allowing retail stores and other businesses to stay up and running. in the jungles of southern mexico the luck and done people are one of the country's most isolated indigenous groups without contact to the outside world they have preserved their anshan mayan culture for centuries and recent years that's starting to change and one of the outsiders they've let in is austrian photographer martine mine he's been visiting them for over a decade now documenting their traditions before they disappear. tempo of the maya a lost civilization the french just astronomy and mathematics time was sacred and

humane human sacrifices tribute to their gods. martin engle men travel to central america for the 1st time in 2008 in a small village in the rain forest of southern mexico he encountered the left hand on descendants of the mayans whose ancestors fled to the forests from spanish conquerors anthropologist alice powers and nearly often travels with a woman. she lives with the electron gone 6 months a year and speaks their language the entrance of the cave of the gods see back from dawn's believe this is where the souls of the deceased are purified on the way back from the underworld to about 700 mine and on some survivors to this day. the culture can still be found will cease to exist in

a very few years and for me as a photographer this is a painful realisation but i can't stop it and i had to accept that of the heart to get in this new. has arrived in the village of no ha there is no electricity telephones streets there are only a few old people left the last guardians of the group's cultural heritage. marching engelman also met the last shaman mouthpiece of the gods gone antonio. born and in the face of the mayan and owns everything in life has a meaning of the everything lives everything is animated no matter whether a small blade of grass or tree everything. it has a soul has a spirit and you can also communicate with everything that is what the maya believe

i believe that if we go through nature with this attitude there is no more good and bad but you can see everywhere how valuable creation is valid for the ship. in the rainforest everything sayings my ass say everything has a voice. museums and galleries in england are going back into lockdown this thursday but before that happens we managed to get a tour of the architecture for dogs show in london we got a 4 legged friend to go sniff it out. in london and sure she a female shiba inu inspects the architecture for a doctor exhibition of creative furnishings and for man's best friend. the piece is the creations of internationally renowned designers and architects.

massive car is a long and based architect who has gone to the dogs. each of us has been been given the brief to create architecture for dogs instead of humans and it's not about making houses now of course pacific in the prefer it was about trying to express yourself at the scale of the dog and so what's really interesting about it the creative tools are to get sharp and that's with it and where to start to see things from a different perspective and see how the dog sees the world. the concept for the exhibition came from japanese design a kenya howrah from 2012 that went on shore around the world only now arriving in europe. massive contact with this design i see you it's intended for dogs with black coats. the idea is that it says the dog is able to camouflage itself amongst

a kind of black background is made from sheep's wool the whole thing has a smell that can be delicious smell the dog which attracts it initially and the shape you can see starts in the ground and lifts upwards in this curved arc the idea is that kind of resembles the way the dog discovers the world around it maybe the way it sees is by smelling the ground and slowly looks up to discover what's the surface in front of it. for sure there's plenty to discover. but it's about more than seeing and sniffing it's more than an exhibition it's really a. global project whereby people can interact by downloading versions of the pieces which are exhibited and make them themselves we upload them and they are then shared via social media. market check just for adults sounds pocking but schorsch seems to approve. honks diggity dog.

definitely a lot easier than filming a report with cats well that's it for this edition of arts and culture for more stories about designing the music film and art those of us anytime on line i d w dot com slash culture but for now.

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this is the dublin news line from but i live in austria in shock after 4 people were killed in a shooting attack by an extremist identified as a supporter of the so-called islamic state. the government dad and the rest suspects chance not sebastian cortes calls it a repulsive terror attack and says it will not divide the nation also on the program polling stations are open in the united states after the most divisive presidential election campaign for decades with almost a 100000000 votes cast.