ah ah, you're watching t w news asia coming up today, china's endless 0 coven policy test. it's billions citizens. just how sustainable is it and how far will the government go to maintain it? and what are the repercussions for the rest of the world? plus on top of a covert outbreak that has put pyongyang on an emergency footing. north korea deals with a mystery. intestinal disease that has hit rural parts of the country. also coming up to ty, one's at the same sex marriage law. the 1st in asia doesn't cover all couples. we

take a closer look at who is being left behind. ah, i'm melissa chant, thanks for joining us. we start with china. we're dramatic locked downs of major cities in an attempt to stick to a 0. cobit strategy is leading to massive consequences for the world is the disruption of the global supply chain for the people of china. it's about lives turned upside down more locked downs and testing and intense surveillance. residents in beijing have gotten used to this. mass testing is china's standard reaction to the slightest cove at outbreak, in addition to targeted lock downs and lengthy quarantines. but these queues seen

over the past week have been exceptionally long. millions had to get tested following an outbreak related to a ball with over 350 cases. that's a lot by chinese standard. now the local government says it has everything under control. d were back in after 8 days of arduous battle in the concerted efforts of the people of the whole city. the effect of quick and decisive measures has been shown. the epidemic situation related to heaven. supermarket bar is easing or feud by the highly contagious omicron variant. the broader outbreak in beijing has already lost it for more than 50 days. with many people staying home and some business is closed. the city's commerce has been disrupted. a price china is willing to pay so far, at least as it pursues the so called 0 covert policy and strives to stamp out the decease. many residents are ready to go along with the strategy, as they feel be

a tentative could be worse. and that even harder to chisel was, i'm worried that because i previously stayed for a while in shanghai, the epidemic there started with a small store and nobody thought that the situation would be so severe order. now, beijing is in similar trouble to shanghai food with susan virginia who are those in shanghai as slowly recovering after a 2 month heart locked down with visitors. once again able to enjoy some of the tourist sites. it has to offer such as the newly we opened disney town. but the city is still far from normality. since any new outbreaks could change to life, shanghai people just started to enjoy again. joining us in the studio is tanya, an associate professor of political science at the national university of singapore . thanks for joining the program. thank you. i want to start by looking at how much

chinese citizens will put up with people are very stressed over there and, and we've seen bits of protest here and there. right, so i mean it's, of course, a big question over how stress and how upset people. i mean, we've seen our sporadic protests here and there over a food over exiting over a horn off areas. so that i think, suggests a certain level of frustration among the people who've been essentially sort of locked down uh to keep them to maintain the covert 0 policy. but i guess the big question is, how wide spread i'm all of this is how coordinated are a lot of this is, i mean there is, seems to be some coordination of frustration on line, but whether that translates elsewhere i think it is something that's really difficult to see from the outside or even for that matter in china are given the restrictions on of the free flow of information there, but certainly frustration is building out. so what's your take on how sustainable

this policy will be? i think ultimately it's not going to be sustainable on the basis of the economy is not so much what people think or feel because the chinese state has a real ability to put down. and he protested. doesn't like um, but i think where things are much trickier is if the chinese economy slows to a pace where the leaders find it to be alarming, then they may make some adjustment that having been said, assuming has sort of put his own personal stamp on the cove at 0 policy and going up into the or the 20th for our party. congress. that may mean any adjustment may be difficult because i don't think she wants to see me seem to be wrong or to be weak. and i am all so she kind of owns this. i'm curious, is the government explaining themselves? i mean, most analysts outside the country. no. this is connected to. she means retention of

political power. but what is b gene telling people? so it's usually telling people that it's nest, the strict controls, and cobra 0 is necessary and that's really the line that they've been pushing in addition to, to the vaccination. although, i think, you know, the degree to which all this is, you know, contain, of all the mess the messages are, contain, of all, i think will rest on, you know, how much people, if it, eventually in china get a sense of what's going on outside. and also how, how much they're hurting economically. because ultimately, i think for the current regime, it comes down to, you know, what people are feeling in their sort of ability to get on with their daily lives, especially their ability to work, to get jobs. i mean, some of the reporting is that are an employment and income or that is under quite a lot of stress. so i think it comes down to whether or the any sort of

rhetoric is able to overcome these very realistic pressures that people face, which i think will be difficult once the, you know, pressure really comes. yeah. yeah. i mean, it's interesting because when justification, when imagines is the canyon stay pointing to the 1000000 destiny united states and how the chinese state certainly has not allowed that to happen to their citizens. lastly, you are in singapore. so how is china's policy impacting the region? so the big thing with the chinese policy seems to be the slowdown. and it's connie, me, and given that are the southeast asian singapore are included in there is that our economies are very much intertwined with our, that of the p r c, as well as actually the rest of the world. but what happens is that what we're one big part of that economic relationship seems to be on the stress seems to be more sealed off our from before. that obviously apply affects the supply or that

obviously then adds pressure on inflation. so there's that big concern there, although i suppose some people are quite taken by this claim that the peers he has managed to keep deaths down because that's clearly very important. but it's not the only part of the story, especially since are for people who are outside of china, who i think have opened up and figured that well opening up and getting the economy started may be something that is a pretty important as well. tanya and thank you so much for joining us. as always, north korean says, hundreds of families have fallen ill with an unidentified intestinal disease leader kim jong undescribed did as an acute epidemic. and urged officials to bring it under control. as soon as possible in what analysts say shows the seriousness of the situation. state media released pictures of kim and his wife, preparing medicines to be sent to the affected region of south one. hi, province. citizens were photographed gratefully receiving the aid. at least 1600

people are thought to be ill. some reports have suggested they could be suffering from colorant or typhoid. the reports of the new unspecified illness come. as north korea continues to battle an outbreak of coven 19 state media is keen to show the regime is doing all it can to contain the corona virus. the official news agency provided more images to day of factories and workplaces being disinfected despite such measures. having little impact on cobra transmission according to the w to h o pyongyang says an estimated 25000 people probably have cov it, and at least 73 have died. it's not possible to confirm the figures. north korea has also refused to accept offers of vaccines and it's believed no one in the country has been inoculated. ah,

3 years ago, taiwan legalized same sex marriage becoming the 1st state in asia to do so. but like many early victories in any struggle, this when wasn't perfect, the decision did not cover when one partner happened to be a foreigner. did abuse. joyce lee talked to one couple in taipei, louis strong and came. your child have to live together in taiwan for a decade. the lesbian couple have always wanted to have a family here. there were you later when tie want allow to same sex marriage 3 years ago. then they found out they exclude her from the bill because kimmy is from hong kong, the government for bits foreign as to what on the island, unless they're from a country where gay marriage is recognized. in finance, elements of the government gave me the rising marius, same sex papa, but i am deprived of such are i lot just because of my poppies nationality. i feel betrayed i than i did when my friends keep asking us when the wedding will be handled. it hurts every time when i have to explain to you that we can't because of

the legal barriers in the flood, kimmy is not legally the we spouse. she has and obtain residency status or the right to work. she's been living in taiwan on a true as visa, flying in. i know it off the island every month when her permit expires. helpful, and it's been so unstable. many people can plan for the future for the next 10 or 20 years, but we are living only month to month for my visa got extended because of covered our but as soon as the borders reopen, i have to leave again. i don't know if i can come back. i feel restless and stressed. was selfish, sat in 2019 taiwan, became the 1st asian jurisdiction to legalize gay marriage. so far, $8000.00 same sex couples have tied to nod. but more than $400.00 trans national capos are excluded. i was to the hurry, propose a refresher on a fellow last year by the cabinet is reluctant to give that green light as it could cause controversy over national security. some officials how worried that chinese 5

can get taiwanese citizenship proof faith gay marriage, 3 capos challenged the restrictions and got married after winning in court. but their rulings only applied to them. no other international couple was still with a party to her. i me, me, father, ha, queen i taiwan. so official attitude is ambiguous city and the one hand, the government does not want to change the law because it might trigger opposition and could affect elections. but they also don't mind couples winning and coordinate and think that settling the case by case it would not harm them politically. louie and kimmy are considering legal action, but the proceedings would take 2 years and there's no guarantee of name. for now they still have to live together month by month. almost out of the yeah, we're asking for something, find a man to read. marriage is no longer defined by sexual orientation. no. but for same sex couples. marriage is now bound by nationality. it's another form of

discrimination. we just went to live with our loved ones. when can we have a life of our own since then the read sancho shoot pool. both women say they are tired after living in uncertainty for a decade. but in the current political situation, that's no sign when a weather change, we're come. thanks for watching and get by with every day counts for us and for our planet. global ideas is on its way to bring you more conservation. how do we make cities greener? how can we protect animals and their habitats? what to do with all our waste? we can make a difference by choosing reforestation over deforestation recycling over disposable

smarten solutions. overstaying said in our ways, earth is truly unique. and we know that that uniqueness is what allows us to live and survive. google ideas. the environmental su in global $3000.00 on d, w, and online ah, gas flow is down, political tensions are up, france, italy ansley. back out all receive less russian gas as moscow cuts deliveries while the german government calls on citizens to save more. also on the show as products including cannibal, become more popular. a growing number of people in japan are calling on the government to easy strict laws. america, chris kolber,

welcome to the program. russia is cutting supplies of gas, the west and governments are scrambling to find ways to save energy and fight alternative sources as well. europe has been reducing its reliance on gas from russia following the invasion of ukraine in february. but it's causing major fuel procurement, headaches, the head of japan's electricity. the lease federation says he's worried about the disruption and liquefied natural gas from russia's shock in to during the peak summer demand season, france has not received a natural gas from national via pipeline. since the mid of june, june 15th, to be resized by italy's any says it will receive only half of the gas supply volumes. it has required from russia gas from now made these attempts by russia to increase pressure and european countries. so lowering gas to live.