Im melissa chan welcome to news asia tensions between china and taiwan have hit a high not seen in years most recently chinese warplanes crossed to the median line the Narrow Strait separating the 2 sides over the past week thats according to taiwans president haiyan one the United States plays a role in all this says taiwans main supporter the trumpet administration plans to sell taiwan billions of dollars in weapons from missiles to Surveillance Drones in order to shore up its defenses against any potential attack by beijing taiwan is a democracy with a separate government but president xi jinping considers it a part of his peoples republic of china. Over ousting reception for taiwans leader as she meets air force offices at one of the territories most important to military bases. President sighing when he was there to deliver a special message following a spike in tensions between time china so were going off as the commander in chief of our National Armed forces i want to assure the people that our National Army officers and soldiers are absolutely capable and determined to defend the country and safeguard regional peace. It was from this base that pilots scrambled jets to intercept nearly 40 chinese warplanes and bombers that had entered taiwans a defense zone. It was not the 1st time this had happened as these images of chinese fighter jets earlier and september show. But analysts say last weeks intrusions were an unusually Large Display of force by beijing. Taiwan for its part is determined to prove its prepared to defend itself. This Live Fire Exercise in july is 1 of a number this year simulating a response to a chinese invasion. Relations between beijing and taipei have become strained since the election in 2016 of president sighing when in part over her rejection of beijings view that taiwan is part of one china. Yet tensions have also been fueled by the presence of this man in taiwan in august u. S. Health secretary alex is our became the highest ranking american official its a visit taiwan since 979. 00. His visit comes as the Trump Administration increases its support for taipei its ties with beijing sour chinese reaction was furious. That they do then which is a political provocation to china it encourages the arrogance of the separatist forces to Taiwan Independence and undermines sino u. S. Relations and peace and stability china firmly opposed this im strongly condemns that. Taiwans leader has warned china to back off but theres little sign that beijing will comply with her wishes. Joining us is Dexter Roberts he was formally Bloomberg Businessweek correspondent in beijing and his latest book is called the myths of chinese capitalism the worker the factory and the future of the world before we get into the economic angle to all of this because there is definitely an economic angle but do you think the characterization is correct that tensions between china and taiwan are at their worst in yours. Yeah im afraid that they are were seeing a situation now where china is threatening taiwan both virtually through its state media which is openly talking about war and of course in reality with the p. L. O. Air force doing this on slot of flights across the unofficial midline in the Taiwan Strait in recent days the Foreign Ministry spokesperson in china responded to the the concern in taiwan by saying there is no medline in the Taiwan Strait because all of it the strait and time on included belong to china and of course there is a complex economic component to all of this taiwan china and the United States all do a tremendous amount of business with each other right. Thats right yeah the relationship between those 33 places the u. S. China and taiwan his ex is extremely close economically you have a situation where some of the very top products by top u. S. Companies apple i phone apple i pads dell laptops the list goes on they are produced in china by very very large type hes Suppliers Companies like Foxconn Petra and wish stron in very large factories there in china at the same time you have many of the top u. S. Multinationals Companies Like intel micron General Motors qualcomm starbucks the list goes on that are deeply reliance on the Chinese Market for their their growth so they would simply be much Smaller Companies if they did not have this very significant market in china and then the final thing is you have literally tens of thousands of mainly Business People from taiwan that are resident in china and you have a tens of thousands of u. S. Citizens also living there is an extremely extremely close and in twined economic relationship so how does this matter to regional main force. Well i think that. If you look around the region and almost anywhere you everywhere you look you see the sources of tension already already very much alive between china and its neighbors if you look in the South China Sea if you look at the East China Sea around the same kaku islands or the gal you tie if you look on the indian chinese border theres already real tensions there almost every one of indias chinas neighbors rather it is already involved in some kind of conflict with china if you look at again vietnam in the South China Sea japan in the East China Sea the there we saw the bloody violent clash on the indian chinese border thats really has been threatened by china i think that theyve already got plenty of problems the last thing they want to do is be pulled into a situation where theres a real conflict between the u. S. China and taiwan and theyre being asked to take sides i think theyre in a theyre between a real rock and a hard place on the one hand theyre deeply reliant on the chinese economy on the other hand they dont want to be told and certainly dont want to be sort of put under the thumb of this newly assertive china so the neighbors are all watching and as they watch the situation continue to terry and will this change if the u. S. Elects spine as president and thats of course assuming the premise that the u. S. Is what determines relations and not what president xi or president. Yeah i think melissa you bring up a very good point were only going to see an election as you know in one of him in washington and were not going to see any change of leadership in beijing she being a Party Secretary has made it very clear that he has no intention of moving on and i dont think that china under xi jinping theres no suggestion that they want to abandon this newly assertive. Role in the region and she began globally including militarily so thats not going to go away that tension is likely to continue to be just as just as a just as much a problem as it is now i think the other thing to keep in mind is that what weve seen in the u. S. Is is really the emergence of a bipartisan consensus that is deeply skeptical of chinas motivations globally and very worried about what comes down just Dexter Roberts thank you. 12 hong kong activists who tried to flee to taiwan by sea last month did not make it instead of chinese authorities intercepted taint them and since then weve had little word about them because the government has denied them access to their families and their lawyers. Has the latest. These old album is one of the few things connecting jason new and his younger brother luke the man who has lost contact with his family over the last month the High School Student was among 12 detainees ranging in age from 16 to 33 intercepted by the chinese coast guard while allegedly by speedboat from hong kong to taiwan they were then sent into custody in Mainland China for what was termed illegal Border Crossing jaysus brothers then to his 18th birthday in detention. We feel helpless my dad gets drunk when he looks at our family photos ive enjoyed numerous sleepless nights because im worried my brother could be facing unfair treatment in Mainland China the worst scenario we can imagine is that we wont see my brother for a decade or more. His brother and most of the detainees are facing charges in hong kong relating to the n. T. Government protest last year the charges include arson and rioting one of the detainees was arrested last month under the sweeping National Security law imposed by beijing chinese authorities havent allowed any of them to meet lawyers hired by their families instead assigning government appointed lawyers the detainees families have been trying to get hong kongs off guard he used to help but think they became even more anxious when the chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman labeled a 12 separatist jayson sets the lawyer hired by his family has also been pressured to quit what the authorities consider to be a sensitive case. Its far fetched and irrelevant to call illegal Border Crossing separatism i think for 12 of them fled hong kong because they were losing confidence in the independence of the judiciary. Hong kong authorities have been indifferent. Perhaps because those in custody are activists. The u. N. Human Rights Office and the u. S. Secretary of state have both called on china to ensure they will process and legal rights also concerned whether the issue will be asking that diplomatically thats one of the detainees national. Post good wishes is perhaps the very least supporters can do the mail our fortys have to decide whether to formally arrested detainees by 1st of all top which is the chinese festival and the traditional day our Family Reunion opposition lawmaker added to is following the case but this not optimistic. They do some major reason why home computer ok know last year to protest against it for sure or do the we dont. Know system especially. Since some does why. I said it was a nightmare come true they would definitely be used to. Paying high things. Hong kong as a whole the Democratic Movement to hong kong to fears to grupo become up argument chip as us china tensions gets worse. Thats it for now be sure to check out our other stories on g. W. Dot com for slash asia or on facebook and twitter well see you tomorrow thanks for watching. Combating the corona pandemic. Where does research stand. What are scientists learning. Background information and news. Hour corona. From the covert 19 special next on d w. How does a virus spread. Why do we panic and when well all be. Just 3 of the topics from current and weekly radio show its called spectrum if you would like any information on the run of virus or any other science topic you should really check out our podcast you can get it wherever you can get your podcast you can also find us at. Science. In african countries poor Living Conditions are in demick and diseases such as malaria diabetes and tb why it spread. Health care facilities are generally under resourced and often decrepit. And yet so far the continent has avoided the worst of the pandemic. There were fears that Living Conditions in urban communities in south africa and beyond would accelerate the spread of the virus for some experts are now asking what is the hussein crowded conditions also offer some extra protection against cobbett 19. Some scientists thought a useful population might be behind africas relatively low infection rates but as the pandemic continues analysts are more and more reluctant to put the continent successes down to demographics. Some researches have also hypothesized that the presence of certain parasites in the body are contrary to into higher survival rates. But theyre still trying to unravel the mystery. Africa has recorded a little over 1400000 cases of coronavirus thats less than a quarter figure of the figure for the United States alone almost half of the continents confirmed cases were in south africa but even there the death rate is surprisingly low and the country scientists are pushing to find a vaccine. To search for a lifesaving covert 19 vaccine is back on in johannesburg. Christians this arctic air today we dont think 88. Minutes to make sure g. And instead they actually discuss this deadpool. The steadiest thinking that. Oxford university partnered with South African backs knology experts in june to begin producing a locally effective serum to vaccinate against the corona virus which was halted when a sister trial in the United Kingdom saw participant take ill. You. Think you can pick up a stick and i just kind of know when someone was sick in england i was worried because it didnt work to being close you would call a book at least involved with this. Vaccination shy but after a few days i understood what it was about and im here put continue to try. To notice the very kid the efforts form part of emergency measures to deal with the coronavirus pandemic in the worlds most Unequal Society its very important for us to know that these vaccines are safe and effective in a South African population who may differ greatly from from populations in in other parts of the world. South africa much like the rest of the continent has not experienced the covered 900. 00 death rate seen in parts of the developed world. This is baffle some experts as to how a country with poor Living Conditions a high burden of diabetes tuberculosis and hiv aids is not overwhelmed by the pandemic. South africa has a much younger population than many European Countries and younger people are less severely affected than older people in addition about 40 percent of those young people we estimate had asymptomatic infection and that might be because theyve been exposed to other coronaviruses that cause the common cold early on. Indigenous communities have a simple hypothesis and claiming south africa weathered the covert 900 storm through the power of Traditional Medicine that is widely used throughout the country. For them to search for a modern vaccine in africa is futile and offensive. So we feel insulted that. People who come with make the damages from the worst could come in and in our shores in want to think that we can just be vaccinated is problematic with that recognizing the fact that the instant systems of healing that exist in resonate you know in our midst. Amid this opposition the vaccine trial continues with fears a 2nd wave of covert 1000 infections could arrive in coming months. We need to try and diminish the impact of covert both from a health point of view but also from a social economic point of view and that can actually only be done if we have a suitable vaccine going forward. Only a few months old the vaccine trial is expected to run at least until the latter part of 2021. Im really hopeful that by this Time Next Year well have a vaccine available the studies are going well and we should be able to achieve. With almost 16000 deaths and over 650000 impaction in south africa alone for dr fairly and her team the arrival of a vaccine cant come soon enough. For corona virus deaths across africa lower than scientists would have expected especially when you consider there may have been many more cases than have so far been recorded a number of reasons have been put forward for that from africas young population to Traditional Medicines there is another more unusual hypothesis some scientists believe parasitic worms could be protecting some africans from the full effects of coffee 19 on this we can speak to dr i came hair out who is a parser taller just Born University thanks for joining us can you please tell us what this hypothesis is all about. Good afternoon. We have been working a long time on the middle of a parasitic diseases and the host response of the human immune response particularly against warms and one of the dominant features is that there was ensure their survival for 10 years and longer in the body by suppressing the immune response for example. Which is a parasitic one sees it is spread through the tropical africa of about 14000000. 00 people infected and here you have one long in the skin amounting to somehow doods per square millimeter yet the. Immune response is sort of regulated that there is almost no inflammation in the majority of people and they sometimes dont even know they have these so we know also that there is a spill over of this immune response to other immune responses for example negative is that somebody seems to not work as well as they should and this is also been very clearly aligned to this immune suppression and the motivation is more or less well established and you had prophecies now is that this is overshooting immune reaction that comes with severe cold 9000 cases might be mitigated because the people who are were worse and havent immunosuppressed general. Status if this hypothesis does for it to be true other any implications for possible treatment coronavirus. Just long sought to carve out the beneficial parts of the immune response of immunosuppressive modes and voids of the total parasitic infection but this is very tricky you have to imagine that the parasite harbors about 10000. 00 different proteins and even more other molecules d that it can play with in order to interact and down brilliantly the aerial system not to speak about that of the infection in the locality and all these things its very complicated so far. Except for a few molecules that for example have been shown to dog alert now becomes very specific calling receptor as a part of the immune. System also playing in portland septic infections they can be addressed as small molecules but they are still in the brutal developments and we are not yet there are definitely be longer. Perspective for a coding 19 weve seen which seems to be moralists. So we went be relying on the worms just yes dr hakim her hour from phone University Thanks a lot for joining us thank you very much. And now is the part of the program where we pose one of your questions to ask science correspondent eric williams. If you inhale. Does the number of viruses here in hayle make a difference in your symptoms. This is a really interesting question because it touches on a recent comment made by a top American Health official that universally masking up might be more effective than a vaccine protecting us from covert 19 the idea behind that claim is that although masks dont prevent people from being exposed to the virus entirely by limiting exposure they could help reduce the number of people who develop severe cases of the disease and the theoretical equation is that light exposure leads to more asymptomatic cases ed and theres some evidence to back that idea up from settings like cruise ships and meat packing plants where where people who were required to wear masks during covert 19 outbreaks on average less severe forms of the disease know the exact amount of virus that it takes to make someone really sick is a kind of a slippery concept called the infectious dose or viral darks and and theres no way to really tell for sure whether a higher infectious those causes more severe symptoms or not at least not in humans thats because if you really want to test the either youre going to run into a major ethical problem youd have to intentionally infect people with varying amounts of the virus and basically wait to see what happens next but we have carried out studies like this in animals for example hamsters and they do indeed showed that there appears to be. See a correlation between being exposed to more sores co 2 and disease severity which is not really a surprise but of course other factors like like age and General Health also play a big roles and ill cop. A science correspondent Derek Williams there and if youve got a question for derek you can submit it through you tube channel thats all from this college 19 special if you do want more from us check out the dedicated coronavirus section of the d w website that dot com thanks for joining us and until next time take a. Look. There is a city a Little Society and in the labor market diversity is called morals and gender and legal background each and every School Orientation held for the military should be the deciding factor in career success. We talked to the Human Resources director is diversity Just Lip Service nor reality made in germany. 90 minutes on d w. How does it feel of the world. Where i come from that all. Or that could just go its just like this chinese fluids thats measure of where i am its always reminds me of home after decades of living in germany chinas food is one of the things i miss the most but better taking a step back i see sick of the need to look difference phenology plenty of fluids 1st as an undergrad nation that exists the other part of the war which havent been implemented in china cats when you knock up Chinese People wondering if theyre going to take but if you have a ride to learn that is it is the job of just either of them how i see it and office and why i love my job because i tired to do it exactly it is every day by name of the uninsured and i work at it up you. 2 have. To use crime fighter support for back africas most successful radio drama series continue. This season the stories focus on hate speech prevention and sustainable charcoal production. All of the zones are Available Online and of course you can share and discuss on africas Facebook Page and other social media platforms. Time siders to name no. It. Can actually be personal was using love. Him all. Lol. Louise lol good schools. Slope use. No love. For them would. Only. Be a. Nonstory. The but. This is the only news lie from berlin if at 1st you dont succeed have another go the European Union making another attempt at repairing its broken migration policy the e. U. Commission on bills an overhaul to ease overcrowding and strained resources in countries with the most migrant arrivals but will Member States unite over such a divisive issue also coming out the. Kremlin critic and could an arch rival election of all his release from a berlin hospital after being poisoned his case triggering a diplomatic crisis between russia and the west what will he do next