[000:00:00;00] hey ah, this is did up the news asia coming up today in the shadow of the ukraine war. taiwan assesses its defenses against the threads of a chinese invasion tie when he citizens are volunteering for weapons training. and the government is pushing from military reforms. we look at typeface plans to repel

any potential chinese attack and ask how likely beijing is to invade the island. and high time for a change of thailand is don't for it's strict empty drugs laws. so what is behind the decision to legalize the growing and consumption of marijuana? ah i british manager, welcome to d, w. news asia that you could join us. the warden ukraine has forced i want to re focus on howard defends itself from a possible chinese invasion in recent aunt's b. jing has stepped up military and guardians into tie rod's air defense identifications on raising a lot levels on the island. taipei is now thinking of improving training for it's nearly 2000000. reserve force investing in specialized weapons and civil defense. and there's also

a greater willingness among people to be prepared to take up weapons. should the time come? ah, so yes, they are taiwanese civilians with a new purpose. beyond their day jobs. they are regulars at a combat skills training academy. the weaponry looks and feels authentic with the hardware in a country with strict gun ownership laws fires 6 millimeter rounds made of non lethal hard plastic as the war and ukraine has spar debate about how taiwan should bolster its defences, including compulsory military service people like so chun want to get out front. so chun is a tattoo artist by trade. he keeps a replica gun and

a bullet proof vest in his office. and figures should war come to taiwan as it has in ukraine. people like him will be called up and handed real guns at some point and those her prepared people who aren't prepared and also those her panicking. i think all those types will be there. i'm sure most people don't want to go to war. i also don't want to go to war, but in the unfortunate event it really happens. i'll be mentally prepared. housings of wear suit. chun is now that's where a travel guide chang woo wants to be. he's in an advanced beginner class, learning more about gripping a gun and moving with a weapon. say it's only because of the ukraine more that i more urgently started feeling that threat from china. so i decided to gain some deeper knowledge about these defensive weapons. in the past before the war started, i was mostly interested in 1st aid. sushi, the but i do you. this has already been

a trend in the last 2 years since chinese fighter jets started flying close to taiwan. there's been an increase in after the ukraine war started, the numbers of tripled or quadrupled. more and more people are coming to take part . the so called air soft guns are used for competition, sport, and taiwan assimilation of real combat. the preference of course is that these students use their new skills only in future simulations even games. but they're gaining confidence that they'll be ready. should the games to real and gentlemen off a more from taipei is wendy. so he lecture that cameras in your college of asia and the pacific. mr. so how high is the threat of a chinese invasion of taiwan with a war going on in your grain? at the moment? a thing the common assessment is that it's on a low side, at least for this year. and the readers are a couple, 1st and foremost,

it's straightforward. it's less than fun ukraine conflict. we can see from that even for great power like russia. it's proven to be immensely challenging and difficult to take down ukraine with ease. now how, what has the additional natural defense in terms of the, how i straight making any of asian a, necessarily. and phoebe as one which is much more complicated to maneuver in china, learning from that in china. i was thinking, i better make sure that i have everything prepared before i give it a try. so i think there is confidence at the moment that at least for now, that will be stability. and how much great. what about taiwan preparations? what is taiwan strategy to counter a possible chinese invasion whenever it comes up with the chinese field? they are ready for one, if at all frowning taiwan strategy are, i guess both domestic and diplomatic and almost the front is of course got help. those who held themselves right?

so i think time wise trying to pursue greater as the magic defense capability. so for example, laughing, how wants defense beauty is moving away from buying big ticket items like warships, for example. and stat is trying to focus on smaller defense acids, things like drones, for example, or coastal, defense me solve against income in china. worships as well as things like c mines, for example. these are for the cheaper smaller items. that's how i can buy from a cheap, but they are not unless very factors for defense purposes. if i were to add another point onto that, and i'll be a focus on simply on defense. tell want, if i ministry just announce a new civilian defense handbook, a couple months ago to try to harmonize standardized understanding of what to do during wartime emergency where to the average member of public go, for example,

to get resources and how do you sort of improve your capacity the joy to convert into a fighting force at a moment's notice should the moment cost for it. right. and what is a tie? one's assessment of chinese military preparedness, particularly it's naval capability to cross the taiwan straits to attack at the moment, i think it's pretty clear that china does have conventional enable superiority over tie one what china still needs to developed before you can be confident of success in across street conflict scenario is that china needs a stronger in phoebe as lending transport capacity. so it's easier for china to fly the airplanes over to tie one atlas launch and big warship towards taiwan. to actually make a occupation happen, you will need to have a whole lot of transport that can move to soldiers onto how want occupied. and that's the part that china still needs to work on for

a few more years before that can be short of a success nation. right. so i would just like to bring in another topic involving china now and chinese naval capability. one that is raising concerns, especially in the u. s. i live this week china and can bodya officially began work on the expansion of naval base, facing the gulf of thailand and adjacent to the south, tennessee. and the u. s. fears that this could provide aging the strategically important when the treat outpost in the region both and beijing have been careful to say it will not to present a threat. let's look into that into what the chinese ambassador had to say. don't go with this project as a result of mutual respect and equal consultation in line with the laws of both countries and relevant international laws and practices. it is not targeted at any 3rd party and will assist even closer cooperation between the 2 militaries, better fulfillment of international obligations and the provision of international

public goods. mr. song you probably have of the chinese ambassador said, but, but he's essentially saying it appears that no one has anything to worry about is that machines that will go down well in the region thing with growth in chinese military power, there will naturally be a increasing concern in asia pacific more broadly about what china intent to do with the increasing capability. and certainly historically, china was always talk about how you have no intention to viewed military base abroad. we knew that the, their 1st white in your booty in africa and nowadays expanding to stop is asia much closer to home, the china for, for that matter necessarily, i think the regional state will be concerned about if you don't intend to do anything about it, why would you spend resources on acquiring the 1st place? so on that basis of income asian countries are watching very closely at the moment

. and it's just a matter of particular concern, given that china is militarization of the the islands in the south china sea. i think so, and i think that's a major concern. the us, the southeast asian countries up paying attention to being naturally connects to freedom of navigation, in se asia as maritime fishery and all those maritime territory claims. the whole concern stuff is asian countries a lot. so that's a factor that i've been the regents paying close attention to any remains to be seen, what china intend to do with that new access, right. we live at the, for the time being, but always a pleasure talking to you about the song from the in your college of asia and the pacific. thank you so much for joining us today. thanks for having me. ah,

thailand has become the 1st asian country to legalize growing and consumption of marijuana smoking. it remains bank though. growers will have to register with the government and when offered in food or drink its strength will have to be limited. the aim is to give a boost to the agriculture sector and no one has a problem with that. a, there's plenty of public interest and a triumphant 1st customer with options resembling a fast food menu, closely scrutinizing the product. wow. oh, and buying some apparel as well to mark the occasion. i couldn't even sang. i got here last night. after work, i showered and took the bus. i knew the shop was still closed,

so i waited with some beers and watched the staff getting ready. i wanted to witness the beginning of change will be the hold that kind of an now i got him gallop on, but too much change is not what authorities want. it wasn't. the cannabis on sale is low potency and people are being warned against smoking in public and creating a stink violations can bring fines and even jail and beyond the head shops getting lit is not something everyone approves of. oh yeah. who lives at? wow, i think i may like mom and i feel like tie people are not fully ready for the legalization because people do not properly understand the use of cannabis when they can because i why they need to be educated on how to use kind of it and also the limitations because as we all know, it could cause more harm than benefit. there are also concerns about unwonted drug

tourism that bangkok could become an asian amsterdam, others are less worried. i just think that she's got a lot more to offer than just paid out to smoke cannabis. other is a beautiful, beautiful part of the world. and so i think can it's kind of, it's been legalized, would make me come any more. so for better or worse, thailand's cannabis experiment is open for business. and as high hopes as well, that's it for today, there's more from the region on our website delivered dot com forward slash asia as ever you can follow us on facebook and twitter you tomorrow. the by ah, sometimes the, this is just right out. i tooth out t v highlights. freshly written book every week, snuck them up. it is

a secret war and assume endless one and the conflict between iran on the one hand and israel and the united states on the other a more than 4 years. the adversaries have been irreconcilable. there isn't never been any real dialogue. how did this confrontation begin? how great is the danger that it was spread the lawn war? he's real. iran usa starts june 15th on d. w. ah, a blockade keeps ukrainian exports locked in while western sanctions keep supplies out of russia. we examined the impact also on the show,

india is fresh from raising interest rates as fall out from russia's war makes prices skyrocket. there too. will india stay neutral towards moscow? i mean its own economic pain. and the global energy supply crunch has the republic of congo, saying it can step into how this is the adobe of business. i'm janelle de milan on welcome. ukrainian president vladimir lansky has warned that blockaded ukraine grain stalks contrib, old by autumn, leading to starvation for millions across the globe. he estimates that number could grow up to 75000000 tons from the current 20 to 25000000 that are blocked his warning cons. after russia said it would allow ukrainian green exports to leave a by the black sea on wednesday. as roots out for ukraine and grain were being blocked, supply route to russia have also been complicated by western sanctions. here's