you're watching. the w news is a reminder of the top story we're following for you with the needs of china and ukraine of spoken for the 1st time since the russian invasion, ukraine's president zalinski says his conversation with she didn't being was long and meaningful. china is sending a delegation to ukraine to seek an end to the will. that's it. you're up to date. don't go away. it'll be news. asia with melissa chat next off to a short gabrielle 1st in berlin from me and the news team here. with our sports, all with scoring, do we say they're about never giving up

sports like every weekend on d w, but i wish i could have done more the same i just click away find out best document truth on you to read this morning. see the world as you've never seen it before. dr. now, t d w documentary, you're watching d, w news asia coming up today. time one 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 a gene. 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 taiwan, 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 jermanti visited taipei. he was received by taiwan presence high in when, with full military honors and

a state banquet jama. take hold tight, not to worry, and that his country would stand with taiwan or hoover in europe a war. what's a mala supports ty, one's diplomatic objectives, which are aggressively securing national sovereignty. and protecting the entirety of the territory level from promoting peace and taking part in international society as a sovereign country. laconia raw. the brazen 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 and 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 dw charge when yet reports. aah!

pablo is one of the few tangible size of the friendship between ty, one and paraguay. he's doing 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 and 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 so far. oh, in the vendor arm. paraguayan, taiwan on like can break in their diplomatic ties. most power lay and students here receive a scholarship, friendly taiwanese government. if the opposition we use the election, dia on 30th april and breaks ties with ty, one lay oh,

may have to go back. i think that law, me personally and most of our students we are all afraid that we could go through the same path. duck understood, it was only last month that home do rest, changed size officially recognizing china and cutting diplomatic lucius with taiwan . that love to tie with just 13 sovereign states as official allies. none of these places have major global influence. if paraguay also switches to china, they will leave tie with only 12 diplomatic allies, laughed and not at all in south america. or waykell 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 veteran to economic

considerations by wishes. rather, paraguay is a major exporter of soybeans and beef that they've wanted to enter the chinese market for a long time. but the trade of agricultural products is very delicate and strict. and if you don't have diplomatic relations and no signed agreements on quarantine, he probably cannot export to mainland china. welsh hi was officials say lay will not try to compete with wiley co, china's father diplomacy lacy. they are confident, paraguay, well, we men and elijah go away, go worst that tie one must not become numb to losing allies. that each loss no matter how small is important. one get i one says we are sovereign an independent country. but if no one recognizes you, you're just talking to yourself. people here in time, one should pay attention, says gone. he says, the more diplomatically isolated the island becomes,

the more vulnerable they will be to aggression from china. joining us in the studio is did use clifford conan, formerly based in aging, a. clifford, it seems a bit crazy bad events all the way across the pacific could impact taiwan 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, the foreign ministry in the presidential palace and there for places like as what you need to value a 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 i'm, 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 ty, 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 taiwanda most important partner is a country with which it doesn't have diplomatic ties, which is the united states at 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 ways 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 route is, is, is, is closed off. so it's,

it has to look at alternatives, and beijing has squeezes out and things like the intern, the international olympic 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, 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 it has a lot to offer and, 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 have issues like possibly economic blocked 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 some assistance. and

very quickly, any predictions for the next country china might target after paraguay. i am, it's hard to say, i mean, i think guess what, he needs given others. the last african stays, you know, it would sort of, it may be 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 destroy the capital's 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 bores feast often at this stretch of filth along

the booty gone river. once an artery of life cutting to 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 ganga as a water source, but rampant garbage disposal and lack of water treatment. mean fishing is a thing of the past or with about 20 to 30 years back, the reverse water was good. i used to catch all different kinds of fish mala wrong . now it is polluted as factors discharge their waste into the river. there aren't any fish in the river to day on in london with one of many people to put the blame on garment factories that lined the believe under vanity. she law require 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 see no option but to dump their refuse into the bully. gone, gas, water bush, they drink, colquitt, bathe, and defeated 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 means obviously what i need a community is they are discharging their solid was to the her, 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. good bye with find the psychopath. it more people. then you have the makings. a statistic say,

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