they risked everything. ah, john dunder asked activists, journalists and politicians living in exile is too much on my shoulders. but i have to hold this weight because i'm responsible for the future fall contra for the people who are behind the bars for their mission. it will need to know what is happening there in our series guardians of truth, watch know, on youtube, d. w documentary, you're watching d. w. news, asia coming up today. taiwan fights for friends and allies. taipei is rolling out the red carpet to keep its diplomatic ties intact. but elections a world away could see another country switch allegiance to beijing. and what happens when government officials fail to protect a major river from pollution in bangladesh?

it's the people who suffer. ah, my name is melissa chan, thanks for joining us. we take a closer look at ty, wine, which defacto operates as an independent country, but is not diplomatically recognized by most other countries around the world. that makes its few diplomatic relations extra important, especially because beijing has been on overdrive to pick off ty, ones, allies one by one in recent years and get them to switch recognition in the attempt to isolate the island this week guatemalan president alejandro john mattie visited taipei he was received by taiwan presents high in when, with full military honors and a state banquet jam,

i take told tai not to worry and that his country would stand with taiwan. i mean, he's there any up what a mother supports ty, one's diplomatic objectives, which are aggressively securing national sovereignty and protecting the entirety of the territory almost from the promoting piece and taking part in international society as a sovereign country. like when you have a lot of the basis china protested the guatemalan president's visit to taipei, of course. and beijing is watching another country in the central and south american region. paraguay. the country is holding elections in just a few days and the results could determine whether taiwan will lose yet another diplomatic ally. this would be a foreign policy set back, but there is also a human cost w's chat when yet reports. ah, pablo is one of the few tangible size of the friendship between taiwan and paraguay

. he stood a p h. d in asia pacific start east here in taipei. today, he's focused on what's happening at home. the opposition party in paraguay wants to cut ties with taiwan and switch allegiance to china because i am in my 3rd year already in my major. so it's like a lot of time that i've invested here in a lot of effort. and i would not like to seattle because of all in the vendor arm, paraguayan, taiwan on like can break in their diplomatic ice. most power lay of the students here receive a scholarship from the taiwanese government. if the opposition we use the election there on 30 april and breaks ties with ty, one lay oh, may have to go back. i think that ah, me personally,

and most of our students we are or are afraid that we could go through the same path. duck understood, it was only last month that home doris changed size, officially recognizing china and cutting diplomatic lucius with taiwan down loft, tie with just 13 sovereign states as official allies. none of these places have major global influence. if paraguay, oh, so switches to china, they will leave tie with only 12 diplomatic allies, laughed and not at all in south america. all waco is an expert in latin american studies from ty was tom come university. he said, the 65 year old diplomatic friendship with paraguay could fall victim to economic considerations. why was it rather apparent?

weighs a major exporter of soybeans and beef that they've wanted to enter the chinese market for a long time. but the tree of agricultural products is very delicate and strict. and if you don't have diplomatic relations, no signed agreements on quarantine, he probably cannot explore to mainland china, which high wise officials say lay will not try to compete with wily co china's dollar diplomacy. lacey, they are confident, paraguay, well we men and elijah go away, go was fat tie one must not become numb to losing allies. that each loss no matter how small is important. whelmed and i one says we are a sovereign, an independent country. but if no one recognizes you, you're just talking to yourself. people here in taiwan should pay attention, says gone. he says, the more diplomatically isolated island becomes more vulnerable. lee will be to

aggression from china. joining us in the studio is data use, clifford conan, formerly based in aging, a clifford, it seems a bit crazy that events all the way across the pacific could impact ty, wine, and in turn regional security in the, in the pacific. well, it is a bit crazy, i think, you know, when you go to visit taiwan or you see these flags, you know, in front of the, of the foreign ministry in the presidential palace and there for places like as what you need to value. palau vatican city, these are some of the smallest countries in the world and clearly, you know, no disrespect to the countries obviously, but they're not a major geo political importance. so taiwan is clinging to these countries in some ways is quite surreal and away. and it highlights, i think, just how fragile tie wants position is because it's being squeezed out of everything. internet every international arena by beijing,

which wants to reduce its influence as to as little as possible, excuse me, and am. and so they're trying to isolate them on the global stage, but they're also in the united states at the same time is trying to shore up at security standing. so it's in a very difficult position. but do diplomatic relations actually matter? when you look at high ones economy, it's often it's usually in the top 20, it's 20 largest economies in the world, so it seems to be doing okay without. well, i think so. i think that's it. i mean, whatever. but the diplomatic ties, the thing is that taiwan is most important. partner is a country with which it doesn't have diplomatic ties, which is the united states as the irony. right. and so when it has that, it can basically, it gives it all it gives, it allows taiwan to punch above its wakes. and economically, as you pointed out, it's, it's, it's, it's a very rich country. it's supplying a huge amount of micro chips now, which makes it strategically important on

a global player on that something which is a of major irritation to beijing, which is struggling to keep up in the innovation sphere and in the technological sphere when it comes to microchips so i think it's, it's basically flourished under these american security guarantees and under america's protection. and i mean, chinese and game ultimately like what if we're in a situation where taiwan is left with one diplomatic ally or, or 0, what happens then? i think am, there's been a couple of theories about this. one is that we're going to start looking at something called jewel recognition, where countries can recognize both china and taiwan. and it's unlikely though, the china will go for that. i think what i, what i want is going to do now is start to try and focus more on international organizations on keeping its profile high without going the traditional route of diplomacy. the traditional diplomatic root is, is, is closed off. so it's,

it has to look at alternatives, and beijing has squeezes out of things like the intern, the international impact committee, and it's not on the w. hey, joe, which we saw during the pandemic, that it's the fact that it wasn't in the world health organization was a problem. and taiwan reminded people of that. and i think what it's going to do is start looking to boost its reputation internationally and really am. but through less traditional channels, because ultimately that will, that will, that will help it maintain this because as we know, i mean, as we mentioned, the of the economy is strong and he has a lot to offer am and it needs to keep its profile high because recent geopolitical events, since i've seen taiwan come under a lot of pressure we had to visit by nancy pelosi, which saw the the island basically being an it was a patrol around the island. we have them and we've issues like possibly economic block blockades. so it really does need to keep its profile high in order. people don't forget that that taiwan is still there and that it needs assistance very

quickly. any predictions for the next country china might target after paraguay, and it's hard to say, i mean, i think that's what he needs, given that it's the last african stays, you know, it would sort of, maybe if there was pressure put, there could be some of the beijing seeks to try and close down, but i think beijing is just going to just keep focusing on all of them until it eventually isolates taiwan diplomatically. clifford can and thank you so much for joining us as always. ah, in bangladesh, untreated waste from the country's garment industry is destroying the capitals. bery ganga river banning these factories. waste disposal in 2 rivers has failed, and it is locals that are harmed, breathing toxic air and drinking toxic water. while moore's feast, often at this stretch of filth along the booty gone river. once an artery of life

cutting through the capital city, the river to day is considered a dead zone. ruined by unchecked industrial waste. a large section of dark us population still depends on the booty gonna as a water source, but rampant garbage disposal and lack of water treatment. mean fishing is a thing of the past. i mean organ about 20 to 30 years back. the reverse water was good. i used to catch all different kinds of fish wrong. now it is polluted, as fact was discharged there waste into the river. there aren't any fish in the river to day or gone on in the government funding with one of many people to put the blame on gum in factories that lined the believe on the finally, she law required these factories to treat the waste before dumping. but the

government cannot always keep watch. and so these factories often flowed the laws. communities living on the river banks also seen no option but to dump their refuse into the bullying. on this water bush, they drink colquitt, bathe, and defeat in public water treatment facilities are non existent. that is not as single ah, but wisdom being chain is available. are provided by the cd corporation, so that is obviously what i need coming it is they are discharging their solid was to that i to this river expert say the brigham, that troubles are manmade and could be helped if car got channels to waste to a nearby water treatment plant, but no such plans have been announced. that's it for wednesday. there's more stories from the region on our website, d, w dot com, forward slash asia and follow us on social media. i'm melissa chance. thanks for

watching and we'll see you tomorrow. goodbye. thing time for a brain update because this orchestra called the brain continuously adapts itself. and so we ask a few astute questions. are we smarter? swarms?

are you a psychopath? wouldn't causes monster waves. how powerful are your thoughts? we can control our thoughts, which makes us very powerful questions about life, the universe and the rest that we're series 40 to the answers almost every thing this week on d w ah ah, caught in the crossfire of the us, china trade wall. beijing may be about to ban some american micro chips. so, but other asian chip makers, step up, chinese thanks. strikes that started as iran's oil fields have spreads to other

sectors of society. so how it rains coping with extreme inflation and all dried up argentine as far as getting used to drought. how can they adapt to a changing climate? this is date of your business on robots in berlin. welcome to the program. the white house is preparing for a possible move by beijing to ban and major us chips maker. chinese regulators say they're conducting a security review of microns products. they say the move is to prevent hidden risks and safeguard national security, but u. s. says there's no evidence against micron microns cooperating with the investigation which follows a wave of explore restrictions from washington targeted at china's chip sector. meanwhile, the white house is asked south korea and firms not to supply beijing with extra chips. if my com semiconductors are banned. well let's go deeper into this with correspondence. so.