Melissa chan welcome to news asia thank you for joining us exactly one week before possibly the most consequential u. S. Election secretary of state mike pompei own defense secretary mark esper has flown to india to meet with their counterparts its almost as if theyre running against the clock rolling out as much of their age policy in case their boss President Donald Trump loses the election india has signed a military agreement with the u. S. To share sensitive satellite information and the 2 will participate in naval exercises next month those are war games along with australia and japan all members of the quad a partnership of india pacific democracies. Joining us is korea mohan of the German Marshall Fund for more agreement pump aoe and the esper are in india but this is as much about china isnt it. Absolutely so this meeting comes in the backdrop of chinese aggression at indias border region which shows no signs of abating it also comes in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic that is leading to a lot of questions in india about economic dependence on china the role of china in International Organizations so china is definitely a factor but lets not forget that this meeting is also a culmination all of us india ties which have been growing stronger not only over the last 4 years but also since the early 2 cousins i would say when india and us signed the civilian nuclear deal so this partnership has being going from strength to strength china has definitely exeters ated trends. The u. S. Stands to gain a lot by building closer ties with india delhi can serve as a counterweight to rising china but what does india stand to gain is it having an antagonistic relationship with china only going to make things more difficult for india. The Indian Foreign minister recently when asked about whether india would choose sides in the us china competition said india will choose its own side and will work chris own National Interest so thats an important frame to keep in mind. Successive indian governments in the pasta actually have been quite mindful of beijings sensitivities when it comes to indias close minutes with the us and have even pump the brakes on us india ties however india has being increasingly disappointed with china despite several high level summit between kindness to modi and presidency theres been so many roadblocks to india China Partnership including chinas coziness with pakistan on its growing influence in indias neighborhood in the indian ocean region gatekeeping india out of International Organizations and really the watershed moment of conflict on the border that showed that not only was the relationship competitive but it can actually need to military escalation as a result of which india has been diversifying and strengthening its partnerships not only with the us but we did a number of other countries including france vietnam indonesia japan shadia and even the e. U. How do most people in india carious feel about the countrys involvement in the quad which if you look at a map essentially looks like an m circle much strategy from chinas point of view. So its interesting chinas views of the quad have really often made between calling the seafoam back to disappear shortly to the asian nato and the military aspect of the quad is actually quite exaggerated but for me the more interesting question and also for a lot of people in india is the broader trend why did countries in the region feel the need to revive tax forms like the quad and the quad is just one example there are so many trilateral minilab szell configurations coming up in the in the Pacific Region and that is because countries including india have feelings shes been easy threatened by china by the possibility of military aggression china unilaterally altering status quo threats to the economic retaliate and coming out of china as a response to domestic policies of a number of countries which you read next to this movement that countries are now grouping together in order to ensure that the balance of power is maintained in asia that all countries pay by the rules and the region is not dominated by any one country and i think a lot is seeing within this broader movement. To what extent do you think a potential Biden Administration would change the relationship so indigenously spot when it comes to the us election no matter who wins it is an emerging bipartisan consensus that the us and the other nations ship is extremely important joe biden recently remarked that he sees india as a critical partner for maintaining u. S. National security interests so there is little expectation that there will be any fundamental change in the us in the a partnership with the new administration and the deal that happened today we need to remember is a result of almost 20 years of foundation needs down by the bureaucracies of both sides karima mohan thank you thank you for having me. Pale and as for head to sri lanka and the next 2 countries that have been unduly impacted by Chinese Investment and influence this american trip is very much about countering china and 2020 has been a reckoning of sorts for us global power theres a feeling among many people all over the world rightly or wrongly that china is quickly becoming the new great power in. The city of hung joe on chinas booming east coast a key location for the Electronics Sector at a Tech Convention we find several Chinese Companies that have been blacklisted by the u. S. For instance surveillance camera maker doll which has been accused of aiding chinas repression of the muslim weaker minority and with its products what is the impact of u. S. Sanctions no one wants to talk to foreign reporters here value by. Swallowing is also under pressure chinas Telecom Giant had to stock up on billions of dollars worth of computer chips from the u. S. In order to keep Manufacturing Products in the future as the u. S. Government bans huawei from dealing with u. S. Firms due to security concerns going to force another to go to the many sanctions against chinese firms may cause a lot of problems for china but sometimes this can be an inspiration the pressure can help chinas Technology Firms grow bigger and stronger but its here to hold the called out to the healthy for the facing the future with confidence in contrast to the u. S. China has successfully imposed strict measures against the coronavirus pandemic. The city is able to breathe again after the pandemic life and the economy are on the right path yeah i also bought it i mean it was a look at the u. S. And the others because their governments didnt take action the pandemic situation there is still serious because youre going to be easy dont you dont know if your book could have u. S. Elections wont mean any major changes for china trump wins the. Pressure on china will increase but biden will also go against china house a little bit youll be able to put them in beijing the Foreign Policy expert at this chinese think tank completely agrees with the communist leadership he thinks the u. S. Is trying to bashing china as a force on stoppable china will continue its arise on Peaceful Development this is something any country in the world especially developed countries need to a knowledge op with it is a political suicide tried to write off a child. On chinas state run Television President xi jinping appears that the Military Museum to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the korean war in which china haunt the u. S. In appearance meant as a signal whoever wins the u. S. President ial election will face a strong china was leadership will defend its interests with confidence. In. Thailand speech towns have turned into ghost towns ever since the government banned Foreign Tourists from entering the country following the pandemic that proved decisive in the sense that the country has had just 3700 cases of covert and if you dozen deaths but its hurt the economy and perhaps no place has taken a hit more so than world famous to catch. Fast deserted beaches a tourist train but with hardly any visitors the place is fast becoming a nightmare for those trying to make a living here thailands to catch usually attracts millions of visitors every year 80 percent of the islands profits come from tourism with more than 300000 people employed in the sector. But the coronavirus pandemic has changed all that. A fixture of the islands famous nightlife these dances have lost that audience. And this bar is one of the few still pumping out music despite the lack of party goers. Hes like a bad seed being the like of. We need to. Improve. And so others havent managed to stay afloat tens of thousands of lost their jobs and left the island others have taken huge pay cuts or are trying to scrape together an income in other ways. International tourists have not been allowed to enter thailand since april 1st after the government announced a state of emergency due to a surge in corona virus cases the country has so far remained relatively unscathed by the virus but the economy has paid the price. We know of the problems that we have to march on International Tourism and we are trying to buy lands in the past we have. Mystic market and its 70 percent off International Market we are trying to balance may be in the near future will be 50 and 50 percent and for months now the cat is been preparing to welcome back 4 and this is as part of an experimental reopening project but their arrival keeps being pushed back domestic tourists alone cant meet the shortfall now the hope is the sun wont set on the tourist industry even if it takes years to recover. Thats it for today theres always more and dot com for slash asia and be sure to check us out on facebook and twitter we leave you now with pictures from a new bike lane in singapore where you can cycle along under the watchful gaze of some dinosaurs thank you for watching well see you next time. Why are people forced to hide in trucks. He said. Sir. And there are many stories. Make up your. Made for mines. Hello and welcome to arson culture and exhibition by South African artists and filmmaker William Kantor it is always an event will get the lowdown on a major show thats just opened in hamburg and also in the pipeline. Pulitzer prize winning author aiyar tars latest book home land elegies blends fact and fiction in a searing commentary on the existential crisis of being american today. William cantrip is one of the worlds most important visual artists working today he uses multiple media and is well known as a theater and on proto rector but drawing is always his starting point his way of thinking aloud and as a White South African a way of reckoning with his countrys painful past history which is why its now the focus all of the retrospective why should i hesitate putting drawings to work. Magical films between disintegration and creation. It all begins with a simple charcoal line. Drawing is of the essence of the multidisciplinary artist william cantrip. An exhibition in hamburg holland gives an overview of the South African artists graphic works. On display some of the famous films created from his strong. Point. He brings into a perhaps cold medium films something handmade and warm this is aside from the topics he addresses which have to do with apartheid and with this rather brutal industrialization found around johannes or. Hartman spoke. Again and again the works return to exploitation racism and violence against black people. Topics that cantor has been familiar with since childhood. His lawyer father represented victims of a party his mother also found for human rights. But that hasnt resulted in kendrick feeling obliged to see himself as a political artist this works or rarely has an m. B. A. Give us as with this refugee boat its the ambiguous sometimes and it magic that makes his work so exciting. Cantered also has a sense of humor. Hes no fan of big mouths or ideologues and silences them using his own unique methods. His artistic commentary on the maoist cultural revolution was not well received in china racism. Racism post colonialism and especially the african perspective on europe not always looking from europe to africa these are the big topics of debate today. The insides of the hearts this country it suits. The william country it is not concerned with being topical. His work is too complex for that. In all of his roles are prowar theater director actor or an artist humanist shines through and that cantor is also presented to wonderful effect in hamburg. And William Kendrick joins me from just outside of london today its a pleasure to have you on the program mr can trace im interested yes and im interested in the title this idea of hesitation because uncertainty is such a light motif through much of your work tell us whats behind it please. I suppose im interested in texts which are riddles that you cant solve so why should i hesitate that could even mean why should i hesitate theres nothing to hesitate for let me go straight to it or trying to ask why is it that i do his update. And its us both about the uncertainty of meaning you think youve been something down but then you discover its meaning is elusive so i think its puts provision military and doubt at the center of the exhibition. There and theres also this very strong focus obviously on drawing your one of your your main way of understanding the world and as something very reminiscent of childhood what is it about drawing as such that so vital to your artistic identity and if their innocence about it perhaps thats common to all of your explorations in other media i wouldnt say that this is an innocence but. Its about thinking through the body when a child will so the make a drawing its not necessarily about being able to follow a thought and get it down on paper its somewhere between a desire to have an image and seeing what it is that your hand produces so its both about thinking in the moment thinking aloud withdrawing but its also allowing the muscles the impulses the im conscious thoughts to shape the work that you are making and for me drawing is the most practical and the most efficient and the most natural and physical of forms to work so its not all paint and its not a computer its the hand and a piece of charcoal and some paper. Thats very interesting and this is of course one of the largest presentations of your word today that spans over 40 years of your production how do you feel when you see it all pull together there into this particular narrative especially against the backdrop of this or extraordinary year with things like the pandemic and obviously the racial unrest in much of the world did anything rather surprising perhaps a resonate in a new way well well you know the exhibition was 1st shown in cape town a year ago it was the year before the code. Could one of the major pieces in it is is a piece which is about look this pandemic polluted made 5 or 6 years ago at the time of the a bone epidemic in west africa but its images of the dance of death of death leading people the way they would in a medieval drawing and to dance against it the way villages would dance to let the play part of them by obviously has very strong echoes with where we are today as part of the fact of covert being that exhibition us opened in both but its not yet been possible to travel from johannesburg to hamburg so im hoping to get the during the run of the exhibition. And to see how it feels in a different space obviously in the exhibition changes every time it moves its a mixture between the work thats there and the space shown in and and it looks beautiful and dr hunter im sure it does not just quickly politics play such a huge role in your work and of course your own biography how do you see the political role of our ted at this stage of your career. Well im interested in an art that can reflect things which arent usually very political or that is to say that can affect the ambiguity the paradoxes the contradictions of the political so normally when one thinks of political art one thinks of something with a clear agenda with just statement that the single minded and for me that doesnt reflect the absurd and that in the paradoxical in the world some interest in an art which has a space for not knowing quite what something might mean why understanding that something can mean one thing at one moment and shift its meaning with a series of different circumstances uncertain images 2 to reflect the uncertainty of our times william can trades in hamburgs dice to hand until april 18th and thank you so much for joining us today william can trade in my pleasure great britain. Well just one week to go until the u. S. Election and in the lead up we are gauging the mood of multiple artists and creatives to get their take on a polarized america. Is an american born playwright and novelist of pakistani heritage and his newest book draws on his own life to tell the story of a nation coming apart at the scenes we live in a corporate totalitarian autocracy and arcturus books have been translated into more than 20 languages hes also written Award Winning plays like disgraced. And going. Yes. In his new novel homeland elegies describes the experiences of an author he named he had actor whose father is a doctor who treated donald trump may have become a trump supporter. The writer wont reveal what in the book is fiction and what is fact but his view of america is clearly expressed in its pages. I think in the last 50 years and this is the story that i tell in the last 50 years some notion of a collective good began to evaporate and what rose out of that dissolution. Was a commitment a fierce commitment to the individual. I what i want what i need america is about protecting my rights my rights to have a gun if i wanted to make as much money as i want to use whatever bathroom i want its all the same thats not a vision of a collective society. Until recently new york was known as a center of art and culture the city often plays trails that the rest of the world follow now survival especially the economic kind is the main priority and not just for artists in 2016 almost 80 percent of new yorkers voted democrat donald trump is a republican president who has been vindictive. If hes reelected residents here fear it will become even harder to get federal funding to face the Coronavirus Crisis and the u. S. Has already been seen recurring on the last for instance over black lives matter and over measures aimed at stemming the spread of covert 92 words civil war are frequently used what will this countrys future look like if it continues down this path. The possibility for real violence in the country could its real that could happen but i dont know how the next few weeks are going to unfold but there is a scenario in which contested power leads to trump calling for resistance and if that happens then i think the gloves come off. Regardless of who wins the election many find it difficult to feel optimistic about the Current Situation and what lies ahead for america difficult but not impossible. I am optimistic about the present im optimistic about the joy that one can experience here and now with those one loves doing things that one loves to do helping others. But i dont think. Any of us is going to escape death so im probably ultimately pessimistic. I mean thats what you get when you ask me a question like that. Well in her nearly 60 year career barbies been a princess and a stormtrooper and in mexico for the upcoming day of the dead festival theres a traditional incarnation of the iconic dolls with a skull design something fancy as a tribute to mexicos most colorful annual celebration but critics feel its Cultural Appropriation of big name brand cashing in on a ritual worthy of respect till the day of the dead is celebrated on november 1st and 2nd and is on you know list of intangible Cultural Heritage and interesting debates and food for thought to close the show thanks for watching and until next time from us in berlin and chiefs. And you hear me now yes yes we can hear you in her last years german song so now well bring you what im going to manage and youve never heard her before you surprise yourself with what is possible who is magical really what moves her and want. To talk to people who follows her along the way admirers and critics alike how is the worlds most powerful woman shaping her legacy joining us from eccles law stops in. The fight against the coronavirus pandemics. How has the rate of infection been developing. What measures are being taken. What does the latest research say. Information and context. The coronavirus update the Coalition Special monday to friday on d w. Its their obsession for spectacular pictures. Its their passion for nature. Its their complete devotion that makes them the best wildlife photographer in the world. This amazing. Magic. Confrontational. And stirring. 5 adventurers. One goal of. The preservation of our planet. Is not a sinister apartment trees and saving the planet is a. Sauce thats dangerous surat was. Shown for such starts november 6th on g. W. This is you know years lie from broadway new rules as the 2nd wave washes over Europe Germany plans measures to slow the search officials were duly cases cleared near 20000 by weeks and see which restrictions are on the horizon as chancellor Angela Merkel prepares for crisis talks with state leaders also on the program aid