in the us, in china over taiwan. and of course there's more news and analysis on our website, dw, dot com. and of course you can download the dw news app unlike look. and thanks for watching and bye for now. the why do having does not get drunk. why do grab a tasteful waves, squeeze all bodies. how much was it? do we need to put a stop fund praying for help find the on fis gets much on data. we use science, outtake talk channel. chinese soldiers preparing for battle. this is what beijing wants to show the world. with each military drill, china is drawing ever closer circles around taiwan. china has

a clear goal to gain control over the island. so china will surely be re unified. are you willing to get involved militarily to defend taiwan if it comes to that? yes, that's a commitment we made. the united states is building up its military presence in the region and is practicing how to think chinese ships we're not going to come to an agreement over taiwan. wait till the unification to get you peacefully. i hope not peacefully, i dread. put, why are these 2 superpowers so fixated on tie one, what's in it for china and the us and how did people in taiwan feel about it? the

the, it's taiwan, it's location that makes it a geo political flash point. taiwan has 23000000 inhabitants and its main island lies only a 130 kilometers away from china's mainland. these tiny islands right off the coast are also under tie when these control and chinese military drills around the whole of taiwan are getting bigger and more frequent. the in recent video is released by china as people's liberation army. beijing has threatened to n circle the island. it sees taiwan as part of its territory and says it's ready to use force if necessary to get it back. we'll talk more about the history and taiwan status later. for now, you need to know that in the late 19 forties, there was

a civil war in china between communist and nationalist the communists, one and took control of mainland china. and the nationalist sweat to taiwan. that laid the groundwork for today's tensions the us has and i'm big us policy towards taiwan. since the late 19 seventy's, it's recognized communist beijing as the only legitimate government of china. but it has in formal ties with taiwan and is seen as the islands protector. ok, let's go back to the map to understand why the us and china can quit taiwan in some ways. taiwan strategic importance is about 3 choke points around the island to the west. there's the taiwan strait. it's a key trade route for both beijing and taiwan. and also for everybody else, almost all the world's biggest container ship passed through here to the north. the

me out coast rate. it runs between taiwan and these japanese islands. ended the south. the bashi straight. it runs between taiwan and the philippines. for china, these 2 straits on either side of taiwan are key strategic gateways to the pacific ocean. at a time, one is in the middle of the chinese co slot, which is a very important this is victor gal. he's a former chinese diplomat and vice president of the center for china and globalization. amazing, think tank some say is close to the chinese communist party power island faces the pacific directly. and it's about how it is, okay. if i buy a foreign country, for example, it interrupts the continue a t of the chinese coast line and also prevents the chinese access directly to the pacific ocean. the us says it has no troops permanently stationed in taiwan,

but the island plays an important role and us strategy to understand why, let's look at the military bases in the region. here are some of the china, it's main. naval base is close to its coast and the us has some of its key bases in south korea, japan and the philippines. if you connect the dots, you'll see the us spaces form a chain. taiwan sits at the heart of what we call in the united states. the 1st island chain. david sacks is an expert at the council on foreign relations, a think tank in new york city. in the past, he worked at the american institute in taiwan, which serves as the de facto us embassy on the island. if you look at the 1st island chain, these are all formal trudy allies of the united states are close partners in the case of taiwan. and with that, the way it is united states can project a power close to china, shores protective outlines and its interest. conversely,

it's very difficult for the chinese military to project power outside of the 1st island chain and threatened united states physically or are interested in the endo pacific to strengthen this island chain. the us is expanding military cooperation with japan and the philippines, which are also wary of what they see as china is 6 expansionist goals. for example, just last year the us gained access to military bases in the north of the philippines. right next to the bashi, straight one of those chinese gateways to the pacific ocean. we mentioned here, you can see american and philippine troops conducting exercises in the waters nearby . earlier this year they even signed an old chinese build ship that the philippine navy used in the past, a clear message to beijing. and obviously china is not happy about the us island

change strategy. come all, well not to be in the 19th century. well, not living in the imperialist countries century, using these all molded way of thinking as if you kind of set up a change to block. for example, china from accessing the pacific ocean. it's new because basing is rapidly modernizing its navy in part to be able to break through the chain of us allies. for example, with the flu. she an aircraft carrier, here it is on c trials earlier this year. it's trying those 3rd aircraft carrier and the biggest chip in the chinese navy. the number one objective here is to keep the united states out of the region during the conflict. so what we call anti access area denial, prevent the united states from being able to defend our treaty allies and partners . so to sum up taiwan,

it's location makes it essential to both sides as they tried to gain the upper hand and the region. but the rivalry is also about money, big money. economically, the small i island has an outsize importance for both china and the us, even though neither officially recognize, tie one as a country. both china and the us have significant trade links with taiwan. and much of that business comes from just one company, ts m c, taiwan semi conductor manufacturing company. it produces micro chips. taiwan makes 90 percent of the most advanced ones in the world. both the us and china are dependent on them. and so as everybody else there's

a good chance to get some seeds, semi conductor is, are in the device that you're using to watch this video right now. they're in new cars, fridges and fighter jets everywhere. they're needed to develop new a. i models. and us leaders worry that losing taiwan to china could permanently shift economic tides against them. we don't assume that the region under chinese, for germany would be open to us, trade and investment. i think that china would reorder the region. they want the united states to basically supply them with raw materials that are turned into manufactured goods in china and, and sold all over the world. and there isn't really a rule for the united states or other industrialized countries in that. so why is taiwan so important to beijing then

to understand, let's dies back into history. china lost control over taiwan during what it calls the century of humiliation. these caricature is, of china being carved up by various foreign powers might explain why. from the mid 19th until the mid 20th century china was played by invasions and internal disputes . this is important because that notion of humiliation still plays a big role in chinese state ideology even today. in 1895 japan took taiwan from china and made it a colony after world war 2, the allies forced japan to give it back. but at the time, china was in the middle of a civil war. the government of the republic of china or r o c, was led by nationalists under chunk kashik. the now is that don't lead communist forces against them. in 1949,

the victorious communists marched into beijing and established the people's republic of china on the mainland. the defeated government of the republic of china fled to taiwan. that's why there are 2 governments that call themselves china, one on the mainland, the people's republic of china, or p r c. and on taiwan, the republic of china, or r o c. p r c. government in beijing seas taiwan as a break away province and says there's only one china, even though they've never actually been in charge and taiwan. most of the world except this one china policy, including the us. they don't recognize taiwan as an independent country. wait. so why is the us supporting taiwan that there's also a history to that after the civil war, the us initially saw the nationalist government in taiwan as the only real sign of rejecting the communist government on the mainland. us soldiers were even stationed

in taiwan under a common defense packed. the change came in the 1970s. the us saw closer relations with beijing. that meant closing the us embassy and taiwan and pulling out us troops. still in formal ties persisted like that. dfcs sto embassy and the us still guarantees to sell taiwan weapons, but they have a deliberately ambiguous policy on whether they would defend taiwan. it's meant to prevent china from invading and taiwan from declaring independence. but that strange limbo has been the status quote in taiwan for decades, and it's created realities on the ground. taiwan developed from a nationalist authoritarian regime into one of the strongest democracies in the region. there are elections, a free press and civil liberties. taiwan was 1st in asia to legalize

same sex marriage. this year, a progressive party was re elected for a 3rd term, vowing to maintain that 10 status quote. the taiwan has embraced the us world to which promotes democracy and capitalism. china is a one party system and the socialist market economy. and the major chinese communist party narrative centers on taiwan. remember the century of humiliation we mentioned when china, los taiwan well, chinese president, cheese and pinkies bringing taiwan back into the fold as an important step in overcoming that humiliation. this is part of the so called national reach you of a nation, a revival of the chinese nation as a great power but which egypt paying? i think you did see some inpatient season thing has clearly put himself forward as

a leader of, you know, world, historic importance. he views himself in a very similar way, i think, to vladimir putin, that he's just not a run of the mill leader. he's transform, it is no one, no country, no single human b will be able to brock the peaceful read if occasion, all china, all the now peaceful or unification of china. so we should all call on the united states to play with the fire sides, right? but for the us supporting taiwan also means keeping the key alliances in the region and promoting democracy. if china were to invade an annex taiwan, we would see that democracy extinguish and it could send showing effects to democracies around the world. you would have deep questions being asked in south korea, japan and the philippines on whether they can rely on the united states for their security. because of where taiwan is and what it represents. neither china nor the

us are able to back down. and the rest of us are stuck watching the super power arrival replay out the supermarket expedition. we'll take a closer look at what goes into the food shopping in germany. exciting escapes island hopping in greece and tacos the french way. we see how this popular fruit is made in france. this is more coming up on your own max, the 1st thousands of kilometers, separate the countries that's.