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CNN Live At Daybreak

Senior Asia Correspondent Talks About Challenges Journalists Face in Region

Aired July 24, 2002 - 06:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mike Chinoy, our senior Asia correspondent, stays busy traveling throughout the region, to say the least. Just listen to some of what he has been doing recently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The expectation is that in the next few days India will make at least some gesture to Pakistan. But analysts say it's almost certain to be a diplomatic one. On the military front, nothing appears to have changed.

What makes this issue even more complicated is that all these languages have political associations that cut to the heart of East Timor's past, present and future identity.

This is where the last fatal China Airlines crash, in August 1999, occurred, Hong Kong International Airport.

What makes this problem so intractable is that for both India and Pakistan, Kashmir is more than just a territorial dispute. It is at the heart of each country's national identity.

From this building and another one nearby, 16 al Qaeda members were arrested recently. Their wives and children, all of Middle Eastern origin, are still inside. That's why they believe there are many such safe houses like this dotted around Pakistan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, Mike is in the States this week and we're pleased that he's joined us here at the CNN Center to talk about his international experiences. Thanks for being with us.

CHINOY: I'm delighted to be here.

COOPER: I am obsessed with Asia. I'm a big fan of yours.

CHINOY: Right.

COOPER: What, tell me a little bit about all the different places you cover. I mean your region is huge.

CHINOY: Yes, the region is huge, roughly from North Korea to Afghanistan and all points in between. In the last year, it's, the story has largely been al Qaeda and the war on terrorism. So that's meant a lot of time in Pakistan, India, Kashmir, looking for the al Qaeda trail in Southeast Asia, but dipping into Taiwan, South Korea, Cambodia.

So it's all over.

COOPER: Yes. We, I want to talk about Southeast Asia with you a little bit because I went to school in Vietnam for a while. But let's talk first about Pakistan. I mean the story, you don't hear much these days from there, but the story is very much alive and very volatile still.

CHINOY: Well, I think Pakistan is really the key now in the whole war on terror, more even than Afghanistan. Because what has happened is that all these al Qaeda people who have been driven out of their former sanctuary have gone to Pakistan. And Pakistan has a lot of Islamic extremist groups.

COOPER: Sure.

CHINOY: Until a year ago when President Musharraf tried to turn the political direction, the government itself was sponsoring a lot of this Islamic extremism. And so they've found a safe haven in Pakistan and it's very clear not only are they mounting attacks in Pakistan against Western and American targets, but because Pakistan is so big and chaotic and lawless, they've found it a very good place to kind of regroup altogether.

So it bears very, very careful watching, I think.

COOPER: It's often hard over here to get a sense, too, of the strength of Musharraf. I mean how strong do you think he is? How firm is his position?

CHINOY: Well, I think he's in a very precarious position. He's trying to effect a huge change in a country that, where that's not easy to do. He's alienated a lot of the Islamic hardliners. He's alienated a lot of the people in his own military who supported the Taliban and supported that kind of radical view. And now, because of the conflict with India, he's made some moves to kind of step back from Pakistan's support for Islamic militants from Kashmir.

So there are a lot of people who don't like him, on top of which he's an unelected dictator who took power in a military coup. So his position is very tricky. There's an election that we'll be covering in October for election, for national assembly, and that could be a kind of catalyst for political trouble.

COOPER: I was in Afghanistan about two months ago and what really surprised me is how difficult it is operating there as a journalist.

CHINOY: Yes.

COOPER: And I mean you know better than anyone, both in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Tell a little bit about what do you have to go through just to get a story.

CHINOY: Well, in Pakistan, the last time I was there, we had four armed guards who went with us everywhere because we're very security conscious after what happened to the "Wall Street Journal" reporter Danny Pearl.

COOPER: Sure.

CHINOY: And CNN has been very good about insisting people get training before they go into these war zones. And a lot of it, though, I think is just experience and common sense. But there's no question it's become much more dangerous to be a journalist working in these places.

COOPER: And in Afghanistan, I mean, traveling outside Kabul is a major undertaking. You know, you've got to get these guards and interior ministry troops and negotiate with the warlords.

CHINOY: Yes, well, security is the big issue in Afghanistan.

COOPER: Right.

CHINOY: And it is going to be so for a long time to come, I think.

COOPER: What's your, what's your favorite place in the region you cover? I mean you cover -- what's interesting, I think, about your beat is that it's such a, you have such a variety of countries in Asia.

CHINOY: I think Southeast Asia and Indochina, in particular Vietnam and Cambodia, are, they don't have a lot of big breaking news but they are tremendously compelling human interest stories. We were just ion Cambodia with my crew the other week doing some really fascinating work.

So those are the places that I, if I have the time to go and kind of get off the beaten path. And you run into people with very interesting experiences given what happened in the war and the legacy of the war and how people are trying to put their lives back together after, so many years after the American war.

So that's, really, I guess, my favorite places.

COOPER: We were talking just before the break, and I went to school in Vietnam for about six months or so to learn Vietnamese back in '92 when there was still an embargo. And when I tried to leave, I had been videotaping stuff because I had just started reporting, and all my videotapes were confiscated.

How hard is it working in Vietnam today?

CHINOY: I think Vietnam is much, much easier. They're still somewhat strict, but it's one of these things where there are rules on paper and then there's reality and there's a tremendous amount of wiggle room. So Vietnam still has an autocratic communist government. But what you can do as a journalist, in many ways it's easier than working in China, where I was based for eight years, which is really, really tough. When I go to Vietnam I find China's harder and Vietnam is easier.

COOPER: Well, it's also interesting that, I mean throughout Southeast Asia the al Qaeda story is also still very much alive, I mean Indonesia and Malaysia, all these places have large...

CHINOY: Yes, exactly. Well, there's a lot of evidence that al Qaeda was trying to build up its network in Southeast Asia. We've had a lot of plots uncovered in Singapore and elsewhere. And there are big Muslim populations, a lot of discontented people. And it's clear that al Qaeda still sees Southeast Asia as an important place, particularly given the hits its taken in Afghanistan.

COOPER: Right.

Mike Chinoy, it was really nice to meet you.

CHINOY: Good to see you.

COOPER: Yes, thanks for coming in.

CHINOY: Right.

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