Return to Transcripts main page
Prism
Obama Announces A U.S./China Joint Clean Energy Program To Share Technology And Address Climate Change
Aired November 17, 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): It's a high- stakes visit to Beijing. Without China the U.S. president says the world's biggest problems cannot be solved.
A dream come true. Escaping poverty to find work overseas, but for some it ends in the grim world of sex slavery.
And tonight's "Prism Segment", the recent wave of deadly terror attacks has shaken Pakistan. But the majority of Pakistanis are not blaming the Taliban. We'll tell you who they think is really at fault.
(On camera): From CNN Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, this is PRISM, where we take a story, put it under the prism and look at it from multiple perspectives. I'm Stan Grant.
In ancient China no one was allowed to enter or leave the Forbidden City without imperial permission. Well, today the president of the United States was welcomed with open arms as he played tourist at the former Emperor's Palace in Beijing. The hospitality carried over in Barack Obama's meeting with China's President Hu Jintao. But as Ed Henry tells us, even new friends rarely agree on everything.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Here in the bitter cold of Beijing, President Obama has been all about focusing on trying to bring some new warmth to the relationship with China. The president touring the Forbidden City, taking in some sights, but also having intense discussions with the Chinese President Hu Jintao.
By the end of this week, Mr. Obama will have visited 20 nations all around the world, the most in the first year of any American president in history.
But he told President Hu today, that essentially, this may be the most important, most influential relationship of all, as he pledged to work together on a lot of key issues, such as battling the global recession, but also dealing with climate change.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As the two largest consumers and producers of energy, there can be no solution to this challenge without the efforts of both China and the United States. That's why we've agreed to a series of important new initiatives in this area. As President Hu indicated, we are creating a joint clean energy research center and have achieved agreements on energy efficiency, renewable energy, cleaner uses of coal, electric vehicles, and shale gas.
HENRY: The two leaders did not, of course, agree on everything. On human rights, for example, President Obama was outspoken about saying that the U.S. would like to see its values spread around the world, including in China. You will remember that last month the president pointed decided to avoid a meeting with the Dalai Lama while he was in Washington. Apparently he did not want to upset the Chinese leadership on the eve of this visit. But here in Beijing President Obama said, publicly, with President Hu as his side, that he wants the Chinese government to start a dialogue with some of the Dalai Lama's representatives. Start speaking with the Tibetan spiritual leader.
Also some disagreement on Iran; they spoke about how they both want to see negotiations continue about stopping Iran's nuclear program. But the Chinese president did not go nearly as far the U.S. would certainly have hoped; came nowhere near close to endorsing new sanctions against Iran.
On North Korea there was certainly a bit more cooperation. The Chinese president suggesting that he also wants to restart those all- important six-party talks, that have been dormant. That important for President Obama, just a couple of days before he visits South Korea, the final stop on this long Asian journey.
Ed Henry, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRANT: As the world's last remaining super power and a country fast attaining super power status, relations between the U.S. and China are critical. In fact, as one expert put forth on CNN's "AMANPOUR", it might well be the world's most important political and economic relationship.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VICTOR ZHIKAI GAO, BEIJING PRIVATE EQUITY ASSOCIATION: Well, from our perspective the China/U.S. relations is the most important single pair of bilateral relations in the world. And I think China is still a developing country with relatively low per capita income. But for the first time, in memory, such a country, China, has become the largest creditor nation to the United States.
And let me make the record straight, over the past few months, since the outbreak of the financial crisis, China has continued to purchase Treasury bonds issued by the U.S. government, rather than reducing in any way. And China's foreign reserve is the highest, at about $2.4 trillion. About two-thirds of that are in assets denominated in U.S. dollars. So, I think, our American people, and people in other parts of the world, need to realize that China has applied a very steady hand, a very responsible hand, in dealing with this issue involving the dollar.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRANT: In the waters off Somalia pirates release a ship, even as they take another captive. Their latest victim, a chemical tanker operated by a North Korean crew. It was seized in the Indian Ocean Monday. On the other hand, Spain's prime minister says all 36 crew members aboard a fishing boat captured by Somalia pirates more than a month ago, have now been freed, along with their vessel. Spanish media report a ransom was paid.
It is not surprising that Somalia has become a haven for lawless pirates. The war-torn nation tops the list of the world's most corrupt countries. Transparency International's annual corruption perception index ranks Afghanistan and Myanmar next, with Sudan and Iraq rounding out the top, or rather, bottom five.
The least corrupt countries? New Zealand, No. 1, followed by Denmark, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland. And just in case you are wondering the U.K. and the U.S. finished in the top 20 least corrupt, at 17 and 19 respectively.
Intelligence officials say Taliban militants blew up a girls school overnight, Tuesday, in the Khyber Region of Pakistan. No one was in the school at the time. The girls schools have been the favorite target for the Taliban in recent years. The militants destroyed most of the facility just 20 kilometers south of Peshawar.
Now, despite the recent barrage of violence many Pakistanis say it is the U.S. and its allies, not the Taliban, who are to blame. In tonight's "Prism Segment" we take to the streets of Islamabad to find out why the Taliban seems to be winning the PR war in Pakistan. Our Ivan Watson starts our coverage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): October 28, a car bomb in a Peshawar market. More than 100 people killed. November 2, a suicide bomb at a Ralpindi (ph) bank, 35 dead. November 16, a suicide bomb at a Peshawar police station, six dead. These, just a few grim examples of the worst violence to hit Pakistan in decades.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZAM TARIQ, SPOKESMAN, PAKISTAN TALIBAN: (speaking foreign language)
WATSON: In this Internet statement, released last weekend, Pakistani Taliban Spokesman Azam Tariq claimed responsibility for suicide attacks targeting Pakistani police and soldiers.
But ask survivors who they think is behind the bombings and you often get surprising answers.
WAQAR KHALID, BOMB SURVIVOR: Some is supporting them. In Iraq, Musabi (ph) is right, these agencies are supporting our terrorists, who are living in our country.
WATSON (On camera): According to a recent Gallup poll, only 25 percent of Pakistanis surveyed blamed the current crisis on the Taliban. Instead, the belief that foreign governments are somehow responsible for the deadliest wave of suicide attacks in Pakistani history is something you hear again, and again, across Pakistan.
(voice over): From the campus of an Islamabad University hit by two suicide bombers.
MARIAM TAHIR, UNIVERSITY STUDENT: Non-Muslim forces who don't want Islam, or Islam to be over the world. They are doing it.
To the cat walks of fashion shows in Karachi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But the truth about militants is that they are not Pakistani.
WATSON: Some analysts say it is easier for Pakistanis to blame foreigners than it is to blame their own, home-grown militants.
ISHTIAQ AHMAD, TERRORISM ANALYST: People are confused. The people have been fed with one kind of information, which only says that what -the reason you are suffering is not because there is something wrong inside the country. It is because Pakistan's enemies are hell-bent on destroying you.
WATSON: This confusion about the identity of the bombers on display at a shopping plaza still recovering from a recent suicide attack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe India, Israel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The same Taliban, Al Qaeda (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This might be Blackwater.
WATSON (On camera): Blackwater?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That Blackwater.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The foreign country or Taliban. This is not clear. But it happens everyday.
WATSON (voice over): In a country traumatized by violence, there is only one thing that is certain, people are dead and killed.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Islamabad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRANT: As you heard there, various theories about what may be fueling the violence. It appears the Pakistan Taliban are now attempting to fuel the conspiracy theories themselves. In that same Internet statement Ivan mentions, Taliban Spokesman Azam Tariq says, "I want to make it clear to the Muslim world, especially Pakistan, that the bomb blasts targeting civilians are not the work of the mujahedeen. Instead it is the work of Pakistan's sinister secret organizations and Blackwater."
Blackwater, by the way, is the name of the American security company now known as XE Services. They tell CNN they have absolutely no presence in Pakistan.
Nevertheless, as Ivan found, such (UNINTELLIGIBLE) are taking hold, but just how much. Here is Pakistani journalist Imtiaz Ali, now a fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IMTIAZ ALI, U.S. INSTITUTE OF PEACE: This is a propaganda war now between the Pakistani government and within the militants. And they have been accusing each other, as far as the general public is concerned. So, in Islamabad and in those areas where the Taliban militants have mostly targeted, security agencies, the overwhelming majority of the people believe that, yes, these are the Taliban. But when it comes to the Peshawar Region, where they have mostly struck the shopping centers where, where they have mostly struck the civilian people, people are believe this is not the work of the Taliban militants.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRANT: So, if some are not blaming the militants, is there a danger the country will take their side? Seymour Hersh of "The New Yorker" believes Pakistan remains secular, but the U.S. is pushing the country in a more radical direction.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEYMOUR HERSH, "THE NEW YORKER": There are CDs, radical CDs available all over, even in the most eminent areas of the well-to-do areas of Islamabad. And there is a lot more radicalism available. Just like we have seen in other parts of the Arab world, this doesn't mean that - the country is secular, you should understand. In an election, they would go secular tomorrow. There is a great middle class in Pakistan. There is a great upper class that want more, that want to be more accepted.
But you do have the notion that we are driving them in a policy, particularly these offensives against the Pakistani Taliban in Waziristan, the one in Swat Valley, not that they like them. But they don't like the idea that we are pushing on it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRANT: Seymour Hersh, there. Now Imtiaz Ali says the problem is more a U.S. failure to communicate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALI: When it comes to these widespread conspiracy theories in the country I think the United States needs a pro-active public diplomacy in Pakistan. What we have seen, their public diplomacy department is very weak in the country. And that is why the propaganda started by the conspiracy theorists, is working well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRANT: Well, we'd like you to tell us what you think about this topic, and weigh in on another Pakistan topic, which we will have on tomorrow's show. Would the country be better off under a military dictator? We will explore some different views on that, so tell us what you think. Send your thoughts to my Twitter account. That is StanGrantCNN.
Sold for sex, sold for labor, sometimes both. Tonight we take a look at the troubling and often violent problem that effects millions of people every year. We will have that story next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRANT: Welcome back. We bring you live pictures, there now, 20 years celebration of the Velvet Revolution that overthrew Communist rule in then-Czechoslovakia. You can see there, Vaclav Havel, the playwright who was the figurehead of that revolution, later became president. That is the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. He's holding a guitar there, because they are holding various concerts, rock concerts and so on, to mark that 20th anniversary.
In Prague, and there is Vaclav Havel, the former president of Czech Republic. Those pictures coming to us live.
Now, switching gears. So many empty stomachs and not enough access to nourishment. But at the U.N. summit on world hunger, it seems the source of starvation depends on who you ask. Zimbabwe's president had harsh words for the West. The U.N. chief blames climate change. Paula Newton joins us now from Rome.
And all of this finger-pointing, Paula, really goes to highlight something that is often overlooked, just how devastating this problem of hunger still is.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, 17,000 children, according to the U.N., die every day of malnutrition, of starvation, Stan. Can you imagine one in six people on the planet, hungry right this minute.
When we are talking hungry we are not talking about skipping one or two meals, we are talking perpetual malnutrition. What was unfortunate today, and I got a huge sense of this from many of the delegates when I went over to the Food Summit meeting earlier today. Was that, you know, people like Robert Mugabe, from Zimbabwe, were able to kind of hijack the summit by really speaking of certain problems particular to his country. He in very strident, forceful terms, accused the problems in his country, a country that used to be the breadbasket of Southern Africa, which now cannot feed its own, accused so-called neo-colonialists for the problems in his country. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERT MUGABE, PRESIDENT, ZIMBABWE: There is also the challenge of punitive policies of certain countries whose interests stand opposed to our quest for the equity and justice of our land reforms. We face very hostile interventions by these states, which have imposed unilateral sanctions on us. This has had a negative impact on our farmers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: You know, he is saying that, look, these colonial powers, so-called without naming them, but he's mainly speaking about the United States, Britain and other countries in Western Europe, saying they want to, quote, "dam our new land reform policies".
You know, any of this kind of rhetoric just doesn't go to what people at this summit want, and that are solutions. Unfortunately, Stan, you know, you and I have covered those food crisis. And I know you saw a lot of the affects of them, through the last year.
Yes the price of commodities is lower, but what people at the summit are afraid of is that when people have been spending perhaps half of their entire income on food, when the crisis, the food crisis spikes again, when prices of wheat and rice and maize go up again, that they again, could perhaps even have enough income for paying for a day's meal. And they say look, it is coming. Ban Ki-Moon says these problems will happen and they will happen again very soon.
GRANT: Paula, thank you very much for that. Paula Newton joining us there, live from Rome at the U.N. Hunger Summit.
Shocking statistics there. And shocking statistics also highlighting another global problem. UNICEF reports that estimates of the number of children trafficked every year, run as high as 1.2 million. Girls as young as 13, mostly from Asia and Eastern Europe are sold as mail-order brides. While in Mexico, some 16,000 children are engaged in prostitution. Child trafficking is lucrative, where the victims are working as cheap labor or for sexual exploitation. And it is not just children, young women also are victims.
CNN's Arwa Damon traces the story of one woman in Indonesia. But we have to warn you, you may find what you are about to hear explicit and shocking.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Sunarsi (ph) is not this woman's real name. And no one, not even her family, knows what happened to her.
"My family was poor. I had to drop out of school," she tells us. "I met many successful migrant workers and their stories enticed me."
To break out of her impoverished existence in the village, she decided to look for a job overseas, as domestic help. At 17 Sunarsi (ph) went to what she thought was a legitimate company. There, she says, she was hand picked by a Saudi man who wanted a tall, brown-skinned, virgin maid.
"It was a dream for someone like me," she remembers. "I was so proud. My friends told me how lucky I was to be chosen that quick."
She was expected to care for the man's disabled father. Two weeks after she arrived, the horrors began.
"He asked me to give him a massage every night, using a vibrator on his privates," she says. "Of course, the first time I refused to do it. But then he threatened me. He insisted and got very angry and said he wouldn't pay my salary." She says, his nine sons also molested her.
She tells us how she eventually ran away and ended up in a shelter in Saudi Arabia run by Indonesians. She thought she had been saved.
"They promised to get me a job that would get me more money than before," she says. "They told me to dress up because the employer was a foreigner."
Instead, she says, she was sold to a pimp for about $1,300, a sex slave. For more than a year her life would be living hell. She says she was violently raped and sodomized.
"I felt like I was dying. It would have been for me to commit suicide," she remembers. "I was humiliated. They treated me like an animal." She says she only managed to escape when Saudi police raided the operation. She was detained for six-months and deported.
UNICEF estimates that around 100,000 women and children are trafficked year, as sex slaves, both within, and outside of Indonesia.
The reputable agencies are equipping their migrants with the basics of self-defense. Along with the skills they'll need to be high quality domestic help.
(On camera): These woman are all undergoing their final examination. If they pass they will travel sometime in the next two weeks. But as familiar as they may become with these types of day-to-day tasks, they are still going to a foreign land, leaving their families and their support system behind.
(Voice over): The majority will be successful. Others will see their lives and happiness stolen from them.
As she breaks her silence of 15 years, Sunasi (ph) says, "I'm nearly 40 and I've never known true happiness."
Arwa Damon, CNN, Jakarta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRANT: As Arwa points out, that story is just one of many thousands around the world. The global community is making and effort to curb the evils of child trafficking. Some 125 countries have anti-trafficking legislation. Though, only 73 of those nations have recorded trafficking convictions.
Well, the Canary Islands are better known for sunshine than fierce floods; that reputation maybe changing after the islands were inundated with rain. We'll have more on that from our International Weather Center. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRANT: A Russian shipping company says a vessel carrying more than 100 people is stuck in the ice of Antarctica. The ice breaker is carrying scientists, journalists and tourists on a penguin seeing expedition. The company says the ship is safe and is waiting for a stronger wind to begin moving again. Tourists are also taking advantage of the stop to take helicopter tours of the surrounding area. Spectacular view, it would be, as well.
Let's go to the global weather picture now, with Mari Ramos at the CNN World Weather Center.
Hi, Mari.
MARI RAMOS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, there. Well, I guess once that wind starts blowing they won't be able to take the helicopter tours in that region. I want to take you to a place, like you said, usually very warm place, the Canary Islands, usually known for its sunshine. We' are talking about the Spanish islands off the coast of Africa, here.
Let's go ahead and roll the video, because it is pretty impressive, of the flooding that occurred in the northern portion of the island, including Santa Cruz. Torrential downpours came causing flash flooding.
Stan, it is really hard to believe that with kind of damage and so many vehicles that were trapped, when this flooding occurred, that there were no serious injuries or deaths. Really amazing. Of course, rescuer workers had to work very, very quickly to get people that were trapped. And the pictures are just incredible.
All of this is part of a larger weather system that has moved on now. You can see it on our satellite image over here. Stretching all the way down from the coast of Africa through Morocco and back over into Spain, and even in through France, as you can see here. Well, all of this is part of the jet stream. North of this temperatures are a little bit cooler.
But south of this, we are looking at some relatively warm conditions. Dry and 14.9 degrees, near Stuttgart. This is way too warm for November, no kidding. You know what, we have plenty of record high temperatures across this area, with that flow that continues to come out -out of the south, across Central Europe, Munich, Geneva, Zurich, and Stuttgart, among the many cities that had record high temperatures right now for November.
And guess what, this temperature, Stan, expected to last as we head into the weekend, even. So looking pretty good. Kind of cloudy, though, for you across portions of the Middle East, including the northern portions of the Persian Gulf. Back to you.
GRANT: We're still warm, though.
RAMOS: Yes.
GRANT: Thank you very much for that.
That's it from me, Stan Grant, and the team in Abu Dhabi. CNN special, "Autumn of Change," coming up next.
END
