Transcripts For DW The Day 20240712

This will protect the one country 2 systems and hong kongs long term prosperity and stability. Of. The middle east was all call it will be heard home. Over the telephone and if there are rounds of sanctions all television in china that i think ill call a lot of people and groups will suffer quite a lot. From the chinese nation has the wisdom and the ability to handle appropriately its own affairs streets is. Also coming up tonight u. S. President donald trump the twitterer in chief is taking aim at twitter with an executive order. What they choose to fact check and what they choose to ignore her even promote is nothing more than a political Activism Group or political activism and its an appropriate. To our viewers on p. B. S. In the United States and all around the world welcome we begin the day with chinas heavy handed hong kong and washington shaking its fist at beijing for months much of the world has yearned for a return to normality as in the way things were before the corona virus infected any people now we humans we tend to sugarcoat our memories of the past how quickly we seem to have forgotten that ticking geopolitical time bomb that was and is hong kong where the events of the past 24 hours have returned to where we were prepared to make and it is not a pleasant reality check late on wednesday u. S. Secretary of state mike pump told u. S. Lawmakers that quote no reasonable person can assert today that hong kong maintains a high degree of autonomy from china given the facts on the ground. Reacting to a new security law in china that curtails even further the freedoms enjoyed by hong kong are now in a joint Statement Today the United Kingdom the United States. Condemned that new legislation now that was to be expected what is surprising is health forcefully china moved to approve the wall undaunted by protests in Hong Kong Beijing knew that washington would not approve yet beijing at least for now doesnt seem to care. Disorder in the Hong Kong Legislative Council a democratic lawmaker has struggled to get past security guards with a bag he said it contained a russian plant symbolizing what he said was the decay of hong kongs rule of law and way of life chinas latest move against disobedience is imposing National Security laws on hong kong the National Peoples Congress Approved plans to move forward with laws against things china sees as a threat to its authority under the hong kong the law would allow mainland security agencies to operate openly in hong kong prodemocracy activists now fearing for their civil liberties. As the one who had been arrested for pis by hall called police and they were jailed for for good times in the shadow of hong kong ive never imagined to be arrested by secret police is appointed by beijing all in a future i need to study shows and as it is shenzhen want to show all beijing which would be really terrible and i guess no differences of hong kong and china your nyms with the chinese premier said the new law would work for the Long Term Benefit of hong kongs prosperity and stability the Central Government has all along fully and faithfully implemented one country 2 systems under which the people of hong kong govern hong kong with a high degree of autonomy if it were the Central Government has also acted in strict accordance with the constitution and the basic law. And supported the chief executive and the Hong Kong Government and lined with the little. Protest is absent from the streets recently due to coronavirus fees returned this wake the police reacted with hundreds of arrests more than 360 on wednesday. Disorder on the streets matched by disorder in hong kongs Legislature Neither a lackey to be reduced by chinas latest law which could be implemented within a few months. Or for more lets bring in my colleague melissa chan from d. W. News asia as she has covered china for many years she joins me tonight from Los Angeles Melissa its good to have you right here on the show you know what my pompei you said it is technically true hong kong has been losing its all ptolemy for some time now but knowing it and saying it are 2 very Different Things when it comes to us chinese geopolitics why do you think said what he did when he did. Well i think the immediate cause and effect is exactly what your report has been talking about which is beijings aggressive decision to enforce this National Security law on hong kong but we can go farther back to 900 97. 00 and the handover and the transgressions on the rule of law over the course of that time and of course what happened last year with the protesters and its clear that the protesters are going to continue its going to be a long hot summer in hong kong so those are the reasons i would also say though a bit more cravenly is that this is an Election Year in the United States and its frankly bipartisan although the republicans definitely think that being hard on china is a good thing for reelecting donald trump and pump a oh of course is donald trump secretary of state you know thats a very good point beijing also knew that there would be protests in hong kong and it also knew that the u. S. Would not approve of this new security law yet china went ahead and moved forward anyway what does that tell you about the calculus as seen from beijing i think you made a really good point earlier about this that there is a shift we are looking at a china that feels a lot more bolder than it used to be a few years ago and a lot of people will track this to the rise in leadership of shading peeing china has just gotten more nationalistic over the years as if it couldnt have gotten more nationalistic you could have imagined it a few years ago but i think that that is playing a big part into why its acting the way it has and weve also seen it of course during this pandemic with this new wolf warrior diplomacy of speaking their minds the diplomats all over the world doing that what do you think oh this is going to do to trade talks between china and the u. S. It feels like a very long time ago but it was just january when facing hine of the train talks between the United States and china happen and. I think especially with the politics in the campaign and the election here in the United States in mind it will be very hard for this administration to justify a bashing china and continuing on to a discussion about face to trade talks and also realistically you have 2 major country struggling with their economies i mean we really dont know what is going on in china they often cooked the numbers and but we know its bad and it might not be in a place to want to even implement a lot of whats in phase one which is the purchase of for example u. S. Agricultural products so i wouldnt bet on it you know this all leaves europe in an uncomfortable maybe of a familiar position take a listen to what the german chancellor said yesterday about Hong Kong China isnt just any patna competitor but a country that is profoundly different in regard to the rule of law Freedom Democracy and human rights however the fact that we have very fundamental differences should not be an argument against Exchange Dialogue and cooperation. Melissa isnt merkel is she trying to have it both ways there she is firmly placing youre with the u. S. When it comes to democracy and human rights but shes leaving the door open for business ties with the worlds 2nd largest economy. And i would also point out that the u. S. Is actually having it both ways as well because trade continues between the United States and china a lot of american corporations are doing business with china so its not just europe that is facing this conundrum what i hear want to hear medical say this is that shes giving herself options it is true that a lot of european states do not want to take sides right now it is very hard for some of these liberal democracies to naturally side with the United States though because we have had a president in the United States critical of europe including a threatening to put up tariffs on europe for a number of goods so it i think that thats where europe is really stuck and i think well see perhaps more clarity from european states after the American Election once we know who will be running d. C. Do you think that the International Community does it have much leverage right now when it comes to china and what about this fear that hong kong is just a rehearsal for beijing taking over taiwan. I think theres going to be a lot more needed in terms of International Consensus to put pressure on china in a way that they actually feels the best example is the most recent example taiwan getting a chance to even participate in one meeting at the World Health Organization a lot of countries signed on to that and taiwan was unable to participate in the meeting so weve had a handful of countries come out and issue statements on this latest Development Hong Kong and where i think were a long way off from china really responding to the International Community in a very quickly to answer your 2nd question about taiwan i think were in a brave new world lot of things that we thought would happen a few months ago have happened i mean in the world in general and i think the same goes with taiwan it would have been crazy to take seriously the possibility of an invasion of taiwan from Mainland China but i dont know i mean certainly within the policy Community People are talking about that possibility and its part of shooting things like a c. Right he has been a leader that has wanted to consolidate the periphery of Mainland China that has included shane john in the far west in the detention of almost a 1000000 reader that ethnic minority that in involves controlling to bet that involves what hes doing in taiwan i mean sorry in hong kong all right and so that does lead to the questions about what he wants to do with taiwan you know where he definitely has a lot on his plate that is for sure melissa chan was due to be a news agency warning us tonight from Los Angeles Melissa excellent insight and analysis of the situation thank you. I dont think that facebook or phones in general should be arbiters of truth i think thats kind of a dangerous line to get down to in terms of deciding what is what is true and what isnt. And i think political speech is one of the most sensitive parts in and of democracy and people should go to see what politicians say well that was facebook c. E. O. Mark zuckerberg defending his controversial position not to prohibit or even label is false or untrue political messages in Campaign Advertisements even if they mislead the public as of this week facebook and twitter are in 2 opposing camps for the 1st time ever twitter has flagged several of us President Trumps tweets which twitter does when the accuracy or truthfulness of the content is in doubt it was an angry tweet about mail in ballots which trump opposes that started this trump tweeting there is no way 0 that theyll be anything less than substantially fraudulent now you can see in the bottom left corner twitter has placed a link that promises you the facts it takes you to a page with what twitter considers trustworthy sources among them the hill c. N. N. And the washington post. Well since becoming President Donald Trump has unleashed a barrage of insults and faults hoods on twitter many of his tweets violate twitters standards and policies yet the social media giant just like facebook has never intervened until now why did it take twitter so long you may has well we havent gotten an answer from twitter about that what we do know is that it took trump about 24 hours to react to being flagged the us president tweeted a threat as you see right there to regulate or shut down social media platforms for President Trump has now signed an executive order that could challenge many Legal Protections for social Media Companies in 1906 the u. S. Congress passed the Communications Decency act which sees a social Media Companies as conduits for activity carried out by users social Media Companies are not legally liable for the content posted by users now this law has become the global standard journalist and media analyst warned that a change to this legislation could chill all forms of free speech and expression. You know what are for more now want to pull in bill silcock bill worked as a journalist in the us he is now an assistant dean a professor at the Walter Cronkite school of journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State university he joins me tonight from phoenix bill its good to have you back on the day donald trump hes not the 1st president to complain about the media or even to threaten to take action against the media he is the 1st president to sign an executive order to punish social media put this into perspective for us what does what does it all mean. Thanks brant well its good to be back with you and with your view is there under way to bella worldwide i think one of the things to remember quick history ps Vice President agnew under Richard Nixon he did it is a famous speech sexily the words liberal bias can be attributed back to that speech nixon himself the president at that time and it was his Vice President he took the journalists individually to task in a pretty chilling way dan rather stood up to him courageously in a press conference Daniel Schorr so some of the history that we see back there in 1968 as mark twain says history doesnt repeat itself it rhymes we see now that in the donald Trump Presidency as hes treated various journalists the u. S. Congress not the u. S. President has the authority to change the law of the law regarding social media platforms in this case never the less when the president does what the president did today i mean there have to be consequences for the media what are they. Well i think theres a little bit of a route there will be you watch this in the next 2448 hours its been interesting since weve been on the air is literally when you just signed it i kept watching to see what happened and its now been confirmed what will happen is i think youll see large legacy Media Companies doing rally around the 1st amendment flag as it were to say this is wrong america wake up and stand up to this president and i think youll see as we have with with jack dorsey and twitter who probably deserves a missouri medal of of honor for his work and really standing up and finally doing some Fact Checking that i think is valuable now some of the republicans are going to question why youre leaving it off to c. N. N. When she leading up to fox thats ok we need to get those going says of ideas one of things i want to make really clear thats really important is willing what this is about is a lack of Media Literacy there is not enough Media Literacy in this country indeed in the world because all of this social media has happened so quickly trump has you know bet into warp speed but we need to figure out ways that in the classroom and for the general public we can do Media Literacy and bravo for twitter for you know being a trendsetter in that in that arena yeah yeah and as you and i have discussed before it has to do with the news diet that we consume and for most people that diet is not healthy this story is getting a time mobile it yeah big time its getting global attention germanys commissioner for Digital Industry posted a tweet and an invitation today i want to show our viewers this an invitation for twitter he writes here you are free to criticize the government as well as to fight fake news we have a great start up and tech eco system here in germany your company would be a perfect fit and i will open any doors for you so there you go an invitation will for twitter to relocate i mean isnt that the upshot of any move to to regulate social media twitter that they will just pick up and relocate. Yes maybe its whack a mole around the world im not sure exactly what will happen bravo for your german diplomat or reach down i dont think twitter is going to that twitter needs twitter needs trump and trump needs twitter but bravo for jack dorsey for going out there and putting out you know a line in the sand and say weve got to stop this is especially as we get heightened into closer to the elections dont forget what else was going on 100000 americans are now dead of code just like reagan was a master of seizing the agenda of that every day media diet through visuals trump is doing that through twitter and its just repeating itself you say are literacy needs to be improved so does anyone really care about this executive order do they care that the president signed it today. Some people will it is a Chilling Effect remember its got to go through the courts and it well its not practical theyre not going to come and shut down twitter and shut down the internet thats not going to happen we have a 1st amendment of course in this country and on every floor here at the Walter Cronkite school we have the 1st amendment prominently by the elevator so i think on a personal note for me as a journalist as a journalism educator yes it is a little chilling to see the president go this far but weve been there before with nixon that are agnew and i dont think that we have not heard the end of this and trump is a master in both studied by political scientists and journalism educators for years to come and how we can seize the agenda but i think theres no real practical implication of what this is except its going to make a lot of noise and take away from whats really going on in this country and in the world the Global Pandemic yeah youre right theres a lot of noise out there at the moment thats for sure bill sillcock with the Walter Cronkite school of journalism a Mass Communications at Arizona State University Bill is always we appreciate your time and your insights thank you. Feel it not going good good and good knocked. Her moment in our history so gross. So hartman there forever fixed each of our hearts shared. Today as one of those moments 100000 lives now must farmers here in United States alone each one leaving behind family have never been home and that was u. S. President ial candidate joe biden yesterday in a video message after the number of coronavirus deaths in the country passed that 100000 mark an expression of sympathy from donald trump a democratic opponent from the president himself there was silence instead he unleashed a barrage of tweets and practically Everything Else from surveillance laws mail in ballots to threatening twitter ironically it was the very platform that he chose to console the nation but a day later he called the 100000 coronavirus deaths a very sad milestone and extended his sympathy and love to the family and friends of the victims the message coming a day after the passing of that grim threshold. Many businesses of experience to slow down during the coronavirus lock down but one branch is awaiting a Boom International lawyers are preparing to help investors launch a wave of lawsuits against governments for the actions taken to protect Public Health who would have thought that the reporter Jill Dougherty has been following the story for words how are lawyers how are they getting ready to go on this one well brant under numerous global trade treaties investors can sue governments for lost expected profits and they can do so under a system called investor state dispute settlements now this is a secretive legal system thats held outside of the normal court system and it allows companies to go into aa betrayed against governments behind closed doors well now International Law firms are promoting ways that investors can use this parallel legal system to sue governments for the actions they have taken during the Coronavirus Crisis and we can take a look at some of them now so for example there are numerous countries that have suspended water and electricity bills well according to the Law Firm Hogan Lovells foreign owned Utility Companies could soon because their revenue stream is what potentially eliminated. India for another case halted exports of pharmaceutical in gradients so as to protect their own citizens well that could violate investment agreements and so investors could try and claim losses thats according to the lawyers at ropes and gray and many countries closed their borders and shut down travel lawyers say the transport companies could claim for drastically affected private investments now all of this legal activity has been monitored and documented by an ngo called corporate europe observatory well earlier i spoke to from that ngo about how these legal cases could affect governments both financially and how it might deter them from taking actions in the future lets have a listen. It can become really expensive i mean 1st the legal costs are very high and if the state can use it then obviously that burden on the text even because these awards can go away sometimes into billions of u. S. Dollars that states can have to pay they also have a political impact sometimes threat of an expensive lawsuit can be enough so that the government does not pursue it even though it would be needed you know to protect Public Health yeah we want governments to protect the Public Health so are these lawyers are they profiteering by suggesting these actions or are they just doing their their jobs well i contacted the lawyers that have been making these proposals about how they can sue governments most of them didnt respond one did and they said that they were merely providing a review of the options they werent suggesting that companies should sue governments merely pointing out that they could have any investors trying to sue governments over 19 so far not that we know of and by their nature these cases are secretive they held behind closed doors so we might not ever know if they do occur but we will keep trying to track them down as they occur you know lets do because if we find out we should definitely reports them until the public job is always thank you. Well the date is almost done but the conversation continues online you can join us on twitter either g w news or you can follow me at brett golf team beat and remember whatever happens between now and then tomorrow is another day well see you then everybody. You can enter the European Union and indeed thats what the turkish government is hoping refugees before the coronavirus come to. The azeem family from afghanistan and many others took it out its was. The stance of a painful journey that is still not a. Good spot in europe. Next d. W. Course on the battle to find decent accommodation. Number of applicants for a flat often enough money to help manage up to one. 100 euros per square meter. Last minute basis were going. To. Secure in the form of coffee becoming a scarce commodity. To. Meet. 60 d. W. Like. All of. My gorgeous was. Rushed. To so many different suppliers. Sung by. Troy. Coming straight from. The rush into eternity today starts to maintain t. W. Hello and welcome to focus on europe were living in a time when staying at home is the new normal but we want to start todays show by looking at those who dont have a place to call home refugees millions of them are stranded in turkey and their biggest dream is to find safety in europe. Back in february tens of thousands of my day