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Prism

Obama's Visit To China Focuses On Cooperation on Global Issues, Economic Crisis, Climate Change, Not Ideological Differences

Aired November 16, 2009 - 12:00   ET

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

STAN GRANT, CNN INT'L. ANCHOR, PRISM (voice over): The American president is in Beijing and he's facing a far different balance of power than his predecessors.

In Israel national military service is mandatory unless you are Arab. But some Arabs do chose to enlist and serve the Jewish state.

And tonight, "Prism Segment": Nuclear ambitions in a volatile region, as America raises concerns about Iran's nuclear program, it is heavily backing the UAE's civilian efforts.

(On camera): From CNN Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, this is PRISM, where we take a story and look at it from multiple perspectives. I'm Stan Grant.

First, the top news of the moment. U.S. President Obama's second day in China brings him to Beijing to see some ancient sights and tackle some tough contemporary issues. Chinese President Hu Jintao welcomed Mr. Obama to the Chinese capitol. The two men had dinner in a government complex. Later, President Obama is schedule to tour the Forbidden City, as well as a portion of the famous Great Wall. The U.S. leader arrived from Shanghai, where he no doubt raised some eyebrows among China's leaders in this exchange with university students during a town hall meeting there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We do seek to impose any system of government on any other nation. But we also don't believe that the principles that we stand for are unique to our nation. These freedoms of expression, and worship, of access to information, and political participation, we believe are universal rights. They should be available to all people, including ethnic and religious minorities, whether they are in the United States, China, or any nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRANT: Now, today's get together between Presidents Obama and Hu was more or less a get-acquainted visit. They will really get down to business when they meet again Tuesday. And as John Vause tell us, the two leaders have a lot to talk about.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Next comes the hard part. U.S. President Barack Obama face-to-face with the three most powerful Communists in China. President Hu, parliamentary leader Wu and Premier Wen. Most analysts believe U.S./China relations are good but have shifted in the last 12 months, with global issues taking center stage; the economic crisis, climate change, nuclear proliferation.

KENNETH LIEBERTHAL, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: So it is not a matter of there being a lot of friction over them, at this point, the issue is we're figuring out whether we can work together on them. And there is a lot riding on that.

VAUSE: With the U.S. government continuing to run huge budget deficits, mostly financed by China, in a way, President Obama will be meeting with his bankers and will need to convince the Chinese government that their huge holdings of U.S. dollars and debt are both safe.

For the U.S. wants China to allow its currency to gain in value, believing right now it is deliberately under valued to give Chinese exporters an unfair competitive edge. But there was no support for that at a weekend economic summit of 21 Asian leaders in Singapore.

And then there is the issue of human rights.

OBAMA: And the United States will never waiver in speaking up for the fundamental values that we hold dear.

VAUSE: U.S. officials say it will be raised even though Mr. Obama did not meet with the Dalai Lama in Washington last month, to avoid a backlash while visiting Beijing.

MIKE CHINOY, PACIFIC COUNCIL ON INTERNATIONAL POLICY: Obama has sought to put to the side a number of issues that were major irritants, over the years, particularly human rights, Tibet, and so on. The calculation, I think in Washington is that the previous approaches to these issues have been counter productive.

VAUSE (On camera): And with both leaders dealing with such a long and complicated agenda, analysts say, don't expect any hard outcomes from these few days. Instead, they say, this is more of an ongoing conversation. John Vause, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRANT: President Obama's Shanghai exchange with students was not televised live across China, it was broadcast live only on local Shanghai television. It was also streamed online through two national internet portals. However, the Internet quality was choppy and difficult to understand. About an hour later Chinese state television included edited portions of the Shanghai event in a news report.

And China is the focus tonight on "AMANPOUR" as the president makes his first trip to the country, the focus of the show will be on the U.S. administration's policy toward Beijing and critical issues like trade, nuclear weapons and climate change. That is on "AMANPOUR" tonight, 2000, in London, that is midnight here in the UAE.

The Taliban says it is partially responsible for a wave of suicide bombings in Peshawar, Pakistan. The latest attack killed six people outside a police station on Monday. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the Taliban have previously warned of more violence to come.

Terrorism and the threat from Al Qaeda are among the topics Gordon Brown is expected to talk about on a day anti-terror police have been active in Northern England. The British prime minister is set to deliver his annual foreign policy speech. Atika Shubert has further details from London, on the arrests, and what Mr. Brown is expected to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: British police have arrested five men in an anti-terror sweep. The arrests were made at around 4:00 a.m., early this morning, focusing on the cities of Manchester and Bolton. Now we understand from police sources that these arrests were made in connection with an overseas operation. Police also made a point of saying this was a, quote, "low-key operation." That only unarmed police were used to make the arrests, that is perhaps, a gesture trying to improve relations with local Muslim communities.

Now, related to that, and in just a few hours, Prime Minister Gordon Brown will be delivering an annual foreign policy speech. He is expected to say that Al Qaeda remains the nation's top security threat and as a result British troops are sill needed in Afghanistan. `

The speech is expected to be a defense of British policy in Afghanistan, that British troops are needed to destabilize Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, but also their links with the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

However, the prime minister has an uphill battle convincing the British public, a recent poll in "The Independent" newspaper showed that more than 70 percent want British troops to be withdrawn within a year.

Atika Shubert, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRANT: Israel's ruling coalition could loose an important member if it follows through on threat to annex more West Bank settlements. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel would retaliate if Palestinians unilaterally declared statehood. Other party members suggested the retaliation could take the form of more Israeli settlements in the West Bank. But today Industry and Trade Minister Benyamin Ben-Eliezer said his center-left Labor Party would pull out of the coalition if that happened.

Now, one out of every five Israeli citizens is an Arab. They are not required to serve in the armed forces, but many of them do. And they often wind up facing fellow Arabs who cross Israel's many frontlines. Paula Hancocks explores what it is like to be caught between two loyalties.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The terrain is dramatic and unforgiving. The border between Israel and Egypt is hard to pinpoint and even harder to police.

This is where Lieutenant Colonel Falah El-Heeb comes in. A Bedouin serving in the Israeli army, coming from a nomadic heritage, tracking is in his blood.

He says, "This is our tradition from the time we are children. It is passed on from generation to generation."

In an area with little in the way of traditional landmarks, the natural instincts and training of a Bedouin to track infiltrators is imperative. Be it drug smugglers, African refugees or Palestinian militants, Lieutenant Colonel El-Heeb is proud to serve Israel and does not see a problem fighting against another Arab.

He asks, "What, in Iraq Arabs aren't at war with each other? In Afghanistan? What because there are Jews here it is forbidden for us to defend out country?

A sentiment echoed by Bedouin First Sergeant Rad Swaad. His twin brother, Omar, was kidnapped by Hezbollah nine years ago while serving in the Israeli defense forces. His body was returned in 2004 as part of a prisoner swap. But Sergeant Swaad wanted to remain in the IDF, continuing a family tradition. He's been serving now for 13 years.

He says his family encouraged him to stay in the army despite what happened to his brother. Bedouins have fought and died alongside Jewish Israelis, since the state was created. First Sergeant Muhammad El-Walidi says, "I think everybody who has citizenship of the state of Israel, he needs to serve the whole country. You cannot receive your benefits without giving benefits.

There is inevitably resentment from some Palestinians towards any Arab, Bedouin or Druze, who serves in the IDF. But the Bedouins we have met today say their sense of national pride has given them little trouble in their villages.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, on the Israeli-Egypt border.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRANT: A move toward new sources of energy in the Gulf has some critics worried about a nuclear race. In tonight's "Prism Segment" we will take a look at whether these fears are well founded.

And NASA says the Space Shuttle Atlantis is ready for lift off. We have the latest from the Kennedy Space Center. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRANT: Welcome back to the part of the show where we take an issue and put it under the prism to look at it through multiple perspectives.

Today the nuclear race in the Middle East, which some critics say is causing a double standard. First a development that is just coming in; a source with direct knowledge of an International Atomic Energy Agency report tells CNN Iran is expected to start enriching uranium at a long- secret nuclear site in 2011. The Comsite (ph) only became public knowledge in September.

Now, in other developments Russia says another nuclear power plant in Iran would not be switched on this year as planned. The long-running project, seen here in 1994, is under Russian construction, near the city of Brushir (ph). A Russian news agency reports that while Moscow expects to make some serious progress on the plant this year, it won't go live in 2009. It is a significant blow to Iran's nuclear program. Tehran says its desires are peaceful, but Western nations question that.

Unlike the international skepticism and sanctions over Iran's nuclear ambitions the push for nuclear power here in the UAE has been greeted with warm words and deals. In May of this year, the UAE's foreign minister praised the 1, 2, 3 Agreement the U.S. Now, the legislation that promises information and technology sharing with the UAE, while enforcing a strict ban on enrichment processing.

Some critics say Iran's moves are propelling other Gulf States to seek out nuclear power. But author and analyst Meir Javedanfar says the move towards nuclear energy would happen regardless.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEIR JAVEDANFAR, AUTHOR, "THE NUCLEAR SPHINX OF TEHRAN: The fact that the world suspects Iran of wanting to create, to make a bomb, has made other countries of the region nervous. And this includes the Persian Gulf countries, including United Arab Emirates, however, even if Iran did not have a nuclear program, at all, I think these countries would have wanted to embark on the nuclear path for making energy, because that is the future. The supplies of petroleum and gas are not infinite.

And also the fact that the solar and renewable energies cannot make up for the loss of oil and gas, their source of energy, compelled many countries of the world, the majority of the countries in the world to go down the nuclear path. Iran factor comes second to their own economic needs. Because without nuclear power, these countries the lights will go out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRANT: Now, the UAE is one of a dozen countries in the Gulf region that has said it aims to develop nuclear power. The status of Iran's nuclear program is largely unknown. But the U.S. claims Iran is one to six years away from being able to produce a nuclear weapon. Israel has never admitted to having nuclear weapons, but it is widely believed that it does possess a nuclear arsenal.

Egypt has announced plans to build a number of nuclear power stations to generate electricity, but abandoned plans to pursue nuclear weapons in the 1980s. Jordan also says it plans to develop its first nuclear power plant by 2015. And Saudi Arabia, also, says it is developing a civilian nuclear power supply and is working with other Gulf states, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.

There was some experts who are downplaying the threat of a nuclear race in the region. Other analysts raise questions over what kind of message Western favoritism is sending. Well, joining us now from Boston, an international security expert, who has traveled to Iran, and met President Ahmadinejad, Jim Walsh.

Doctor Walsh let's just start with that bigger question. Is this a double standard by entering into a with the UAE, while cracking down on Iran.

JIM WALSH, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EXPERT: Well, I think there is a fundamental difference between the two cases and you refer to it, Stan, in your introduction. In this agreement, this cooperation agreement, with the UAE, there is a specific clause that says that the UAE will not pursue enrichment or reprocessing.

Those are the most sensitive technologies when it comes to concerns about nuclear weapons and nuclear proliferation.

In the Iranian case, Iran wants to have a civilian nuclear program, but as part of the civilian nuclear program it also wants to have enrichment and reprocessing. So, there is a huge difference between those two there. And what the UAE has done has agreed in principle not to go down that path. That is similar to what an agreement on the Korean Peninsula in which all members of that agreement say they won't pursue enrichment and reprocessing. And it is akin to an idea that Han Blix, formerly head of the IAEA, has of enrichment free zones.

So many people look at this as a positive development. That is, supporting nuclear energy, your civilian nuclear technology, but raising that bar higher, as an access point to nuclear weapons technology.

GRANT: Dr. Walsh, I'm not suggesting that this agreement is not being brokered in good faith, but what exists today, there is no guarantee that there is going to exist in the future. What is stop the UAE reprocessing, at some point, to weapons grade? We know that there has been nuclear trade through this area. We know that Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's bomb, based part of his operation here in the UAE. What is to guarantee what is going to happen down the line?

WALSH: No, I think that is a good point. It is something to be concerned about. But I would give it some context here, Stan. UAE is not the first country to sign a nuclear cooperation agreement. Again, as you pointed out, they have been signed not only recently, but in decades past. Egypt has over a half a dozen nuclear cooperation agreements signed, going back to the time of Nasr; same for the Shah of Iran, talk in Saudi Arabia about nuclear desalination plants. The history of this tells us that there is a lot more talk than action. That people may do surveys, or studies, or look at a site, but when it comes to actually paying up the billions of dollars required for a plant, that actually doesn't happen very often.

So, I could be that this opens the floodgate to nuclear activity, that may mask or lead down the road to problems. But historically, one should be the most likely scenario is people are going to say and have all these ambitious plans, and then not much comes of it.

But I think you are right to be worried about what would happen after an agreement expires. But I think part of what people like about his is establishing a precedent that can be extended into the future.

A precedent in which countries willingly give up enrichment and reprocessing and therefore pull themselves further away from a potential nuclear weapons capability.

GRANT: You've talked about history. We know that Pakistan pursued the bomb after India announced that it had it. We know that other countries have pursued their technology and those weapons because of fears of what their neighbors may have. If Iran was to actually develop a bomb it could be one year, it could be two or three years down the line. What would that then trigger in a region where they had the capacity and the industry to be able to pursue similar technology?

WALSH: Well, you are right to cite Pakistan responding to India's nuclear weapons. You could point to other cases in the history of the nuclear age. But again, historically if you look at the Middle East there is not a lot of what are called a proliferation chain. You don't get the cascades that you had in the past; a prime example, Israel. Israel has nuclear weapons, has had nuclear weapons since 1966. And yet, the other countries in the region, Egypt, Syria, Iran, till now, and others, you know that bomb has been around a long, long time and Israel has been provocative on occasion, and yet, we haven't seen a lot of sort of chain reactions in which everyone gets a nuclear weapon.

It would be unwelcome news. Don't get me wrong. It would be bad if Iran were to develop a nuclear weapon. And it would certainly put it on the meeting agenda of every government in the region. But we shouldn't assume, automatically, it is going lead therefore, you know, two, four, six, new nuclear weapons states. If anything it may lead to a closer alliance between those states and the United States or some other partner.

GRANT: We do know that Iraq was trying to develop a bomb before Israel went and took out that capability. But I just want to raise this question with you. We know that this area is being called a ticketing bomb by Mohammed ElBaradei, the head of the IAEA, when it comes to nuclear development. Is this a case of America and others being prepared to enter into an agreement because there is a lot of money to be made here. We are talking tens of billions of dollars, thousands of jobs. Is that the bottom line?

WALSH: Well, that maybe a factor but I don't think that is going to be the most important factor. In fact, the U.S. nuclear industry is not, you know, it hasn't built a plant in the U.S. in years and years and years, since the Three-Mile Island accident. So, there are other countries that have sort more robust nuclear sectors, construction sectors, than we do. It may be a part of it, but I think, you know, when you are talking about the UAE, in that region, in Southwest Asia, with the current Iran controversy, I'm sure those sorts of concerns predominate. And they should because I think no one wants Iran to go down the path towards a nuclear weapon. And we don't want any country to do that. But we want countries to be able to have civilian nuclear programs.

So the question is how do you do both at the same time? If we could answer that question, or use UAE as an example. That may help us solve the problem with Iran down the line. Iran wants a civilian program. They say they don't wan the bomb. So, let's act towards that goal. Which is, again, raising this bar on enrichment and reprocessing.

GRANT: Doctor Jim Walsh, the international security expert. Appreciate your insights and giving us your time today. Thank you very much for that.

We want to hear now what you think. Do you think the UAE's decision to go to -move to nuclear energy will start an arms race in the region? Send your thoughts to my Twitter account. That is StanGrantCNN.

Well this year's Leonid meteor shower is expected to peak Tuesday. We'll tell you the best times for watching and the space shuttle, ready for lift off. Why its payload is full of spare parts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRANT: The Space Shuttle Atlantis is fueled up and ready for liftoff. The mission is all about spare parts. NASA wants to stockpile some crucial extra equipment at the International Space Station before the space shuttle program ends next year.

Live now. All systems are go for a launch in about two hours. It looks like the weather is cooperating as well. And someone who has the answer to all of that is Mari Ramos, at the CNN World Weather Center.

Hi, Mari.

MARI RAMOS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, there. There are a few clouds. I can see them still there near the launch pad and that is a concern for NASA. But the word out of the Kennedy Space Center, right now, is that yes. Even weather is green, that means go across this are.

We had some clouds that have been hanging around pretty much all morning long. They are starting to kind of move away a little bit and they are expected to have a window open around that time of the launch. Like you said, in about two hours. Partly cloudy skies, temperature about 24 degrees. A beautiful Florida day. Just a light breeze. So, no problems there.

You know what, let's hope the weather cooperates for another stellar, spectacle so to speak. This one the Leonid meteor shower. You know what, where you guys are there, in Dubai, you might actually have a pretty good chance of seeing it.

The best part will be here across central and eastern parts of Asia, about 200 to 300 meteors per hour are expected in this region. Now, no matter where you are in the world, just look up at the sky before sunrise, if you are awake. There is the lion, the Leo, and back over here, you should be able to see, kind of a reddish star, Stan, that would be Mars. It will appear as the Leonairs (ph) are coming from that direction. So it should be pretty easy to spot. Weather permitting of course, before sunrise, tonight. Back to you.

GRANT: Thank you, Mari. Keep an eye out for that. And that's it for me, Stan Grant in Abu Dhabi. "Top 10 Heroes" coming up next, after we update the headlines.

END