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Migrants Prevented From Boarding Train in Budapest; Interview with Netflix CEO; China Plans Massive Military Parade; Trafficking Survivor Starts Nonprofit To Help Coverup Brands; Some Question Europe's Open Borders Amid Growing Migrant Crisis. Aired 8:00a-9:00a ET
Aired September 02, 2015 - 8:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:33] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream. Now from one desperate situation to another,
crowds of people trapped in Hungary as they tried to make their way from war torn countries to Western Europe. Now she was branded with a tattoo,
marking her as a sex slave. And now she's helping others cover up their brandings for good.
And the CEO of Netflix speaks to CNN as the streaming service hits Japan as reports that they may face competition from Apple.
Right now, hundreds of migrants are stranded in the capital of Hungary, desperate to get to Germany and blocked from boarding trains.
For a second straight day, crowds of migrants raise their voices in protest over Hungary's decision to bar them from Budapest's main train
station.
Now Hungary insists that the migrants, many of them refugees, must have valid travel documents. The prime minister of Hungary is heading to
Brussels on Thursday to discuss the situation with EU leaders.
Now our senior international correspondent Arwa Damon is outside the train station where the migrants have been gathering. She joins us now
live. And Arwa, they have been gathering there, they have been languishing there for days. How are they coping? And what, if any, support are they
getting today?
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPNODNET: Well, Kristie, it most certainly is not easy. Even though they can afford a hotel, they tell us
that because they're Syrian Hotels are not giving them rooms.
There was a fairly sizable crowd here earlier today, but as the sun beating down on this side of the train station, people did move away,
except for a small fairly resilient group that made themselves a tent using a pizza box.
People just can't take this anymore, Kristie. And they don't really understand why they're not being allowed to move on. their anger and
frustration understandably rising.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The pleas scribbled on scraps of paper. Babies are tired. But there appears to
be no empathy here in Hungary.
(SHOUTING)
DAMON: They beg Germany, a nation that said it would take them in, to save them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a ticket but government don't let us go.
(SHOUTING)
DAMON: On Monday, refugees from the wars in Syria and Iraq were permitted to board trains but on Tuesday they were not. The tickets these
people waited hours to purchase waved in the air, money they can ill-afford to lose.
Utterly dejected, some cradle their children, listless from the days spent living in the streets.
It was supposed to end. They were supposed to get on the train to Austria and Germany, but their misery continues.
(on camera): They want to know if the reason they can't get on the train is because of the German government or if it's here?
ANNETTE GROTH, GERMAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: I don't know. I really don't know.
DAMON (voice-over): Annette Groth is with Germany's the left party and a member of parliament.
GROTH: I hope that I can at least alert the German politicians and the other governments as well that this is absolutely against all international
humanitarian conventions we signed against the Geneva Protocol. People who flee terror and war have a right to protection.
DAMON: It is right, the refugees say, that does not exist for them here, herded like sheep, they tell us, from one spot to another by
Hungarian police as they cleared some areas.
(on camera): They were in the middle of their meal and they say the police came up and said take your tent out or we're going to forcibly bring
it down and remove you from the premises.
(voice-over): The family is from Damascus and couldn't take life on the edge of death any more. But here, they say, it's hardly better.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[08:05:10] DAMON: Kristie, even though these are people who have purchased train tickets, and they do have proof that they're Syrian or
Iraq, which was the criteria required for those that were allowed to board the trains on Monday, they are not being permitted at this stage.
The problem is that right now we have Hungary, Austria and Germany all talking about the Dublin Agreement and how they're adhering to the Dublin
Agreement, which effectively says that an individual needs to apply for asylum at their point of entry into the European Union, and which is
considered to be Hungary, because Greece, where they all landed, is considered to be economically -- it's considered to be unsafe for refugees,
because of the economic instability there.
The problem is that the Dublin Agreement is something that was drafted, come up with, when Europe was not dealing with these numbers, when
it wasn't even dealing with anything close to the numbers that are coming through.
It cannot be applied at this stage, and especially cannot be applied when the application of the Dublin Agreement, as so many have been telling
us, means that Europe is effectively violating the Geneva Convention.
There is one solution here, many are saying, and that is for Hungary, Austria and Germany to talk and to do those talks sooner rather than later,
because the longer it takes, the longer these people stay stuck on the streets.
ANDERSON: Yeah, that's right. I mean, a lot of talk about policy, about EU agreements, but caught in the middle of this are people stuck in
the streets, these desperate men and women and these little children.
And Arwa, when you talk to them, how many of them, despite what they've gone through, how many of them still have hope? And they talk
about where they want to go next, where they're going to find a permanent home for their family.
DAMON: Well, a lot of them are hoping to get on to Germany. Because, one, Germany is welcoming them, but also because they do believe that it is
there and then some further on into western Europe countries like Sweden and Holland, where they do believe that they will have a better chance at
effectively starting over.
And, yes, those who we talk to here keep coming up asking us do you think it's going to open? So there is still that hope that politicians
will come to their senses, that's the perspective of people here, actually do something for them. Because, Kristie, they've been through so much.
And Iraq and Syria, many of them lost everything. They lost their homes. They lost their livelihood. They've trekked their children
throughout all of this. They've risked their lives on a number of occasions.
And then to reach what was meant to be the fruition, the realization of this dream coming true, the dream that is Europe, and find themselves
living in the streets it just doesn't make sense to them. They don't understand why they're being abandoned like this. And no one can actually
answer that question for them.
ANDERSON: That's right. Thanks for reminding us. I mean, these individuals, they are victims of war. They just want refuge, a home for
their families. Arwa Damon reporting live for us from Hungary. Many thanks indeed for that.
Now for years, most of Europe has allowed citizens to travel freely between countries are part of the Schengen agreement. But the sheer volume
of migrants is raising doubts about whether that open border policy can survive.
Isa Soares reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They've escaped the horrors of war and persecution on rickety boats, on crowded trains and on
all fours, crawling throughout the night, all in the hope of reaching the safety of Europe.
For many, Hungary is the entry point to Europe's borderless zone, the Schengen area. But as a number of migrants reaching the EU increases
daily, some are questioning the very purpose of this European project.
ANDREJ BABIS, CZECH FINANCE MINISTER (through translator): We immediately need to close the Schengen area, which means we need to protect
Schengen. We need to prevent the immigrants from coming in.
ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): I am simply saying if we are unable to agree on a fair distribution of refugees within
Europe, then some people will start to call Schengen into question. We do not want that. We want a fair distribution of refugees. And then we won't
need to discuss Schengen.
SOARES: Implemented in 1995, the Schengen agreement eliminated internal border controls, which allowed citizens from 26 member states to
travel freely around most of Europe.
20 years on, and Schengen remains fundamental to the very idea of the European Union. And it covers 7,721 kilometers of land borders. And what
it does, it allows some 400 million EU citizens to work, to travel and to live in any of these EU countries without the need for special formalities,
and by that I mean visas and paperwork, really no red tape.
Trade and security between these countries also shared. And as you can imagine, they benefit greatly from it.
But some argue that with the rise of ISIS and with large numbers of migrants arriving in the bloc from Africa as well as the Middle East, a
borderless Europe is exacerbating the crisis.
[08:10:05] RICHARD OUKLIS, DIRECTOR, THE BRUGERS GRUOP: There is actually sort of growing pressure that's welling up from some parts of the
population, but also amongst politicians, that say that the ideals of the European Union, the ideals behind the Schengen agreement, are actually
causing problems and will create difficulties. So in time this could be one of the issues which really does shatter elements of the European unity.
SOARES: At a time when Europe is calling for more integration, physical divisions are going up from Hungary, Bulgaria, Calais to Malia
(ph), fences or walls or barbed-wire are being built. It's an image that takes a continent back to 1999 when the last border fell right here in
Europe.
Isa Soares, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU SOUT: Now migrants who have flooded the French port city of Calais are being blamed for disrupting train service through the channel tunnel.
EuroStar is apologizing to passengers after it suspended service for several hours on Tuesday evening.
Now the company blames so-called trespassers who entered the French side of the tunnel. The port city has been dealing with a surge of
migrants trying to reach the UK.
EuroStar says operations are returning to normal, but it's urging customers to check in early.
Now EuroStar said its cancellations were, quote, "due to the situation in Calais." But the company did not make any mention of migrants or
refugees.
World choices have come under increased scrutiny as Europe struggles with this unprecedented wave of humanity. And as you can see in this
tweet, the United Nations refugee agency says it's important to use the right one.
In a blog post, it defines refugees as persons fleeing armed conflict or persecution who are protected under international law. It explains that
the reason for that recognition is because these are people for whom denial of asylum has potentially deadly consequences.
Now, the UN says that migrants do not face such threats. They generally move to find work or education, and countries can treat them
according to their own immigration laws.
But, the refugee agency adds. We need to treat all human beings with respect and dignity.
Now I will be speaking to the UNHCR spokesman a little bit later in the program.
Now, Thai police say that they're getting closer to learning who organized last month's deadly bombing in Bangkok. Now authorities say
fingerprint evidence confirms the involvement of a suspected -- of the suspect who was arrested on Tuesday near the border of Cambodia.
Now they are working to confirm the authenticity of his passport, which indicates he is a Uyghur from China.
But they revealed that he spoke Turkish during his interrogation.
Now investigators have also requested another arrest warrant. Now the latest suspect is a Turkish man who is married to the Thai woman who was
identified on Monday. Now she has reportedly denied any role in the attack, but police say that she might return to Thailand to answer
questions.
You're watching News Stream. And still to come, Netflix makes its first foray into Asia. I talk to the CEO about how he plans to fend off
potential competition from the likes of Apple.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: Welcome back.
Now for the first time ever, viewers in Japan can watch House of Cards and Orange is the New Black directly through Netflix.
Now the streaming giant is making its Asian debut in Japan today, partnering with a local mobile provider SoftBank.
Now earlier, I caught up with Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REED HASTINGS, FOUNDER AND CEO NETFLIX: You know, we've been expanding so rapidly, Kristie, around the world. Latin America, UK,
France, Germany, now finally Japan and next year we hope to open in the rest of the world, including all of Asia.
LU STOUT: Do you plan to open up in India or China any time soon?
HASTINGS: We hope next year to be able to launch everywhere, yeah, including Hong Kong, including China, India. We're making our plans.
But today we're really excited about our launch in Japan.
[08:15:07] LU STOUT: You're very excited about your launch in Japan today, are you going to be creating tailored content for the Japanese
market?
HASTINGS: In fact, we've been working with local partners like Fuji TV to create original shows. Terrace House (ph), Underwear, many other shows.
LU STOUT: Now, Reed, I've got to ask you about these reports from Apple. Apple exec reportedly talking to Hollywood looking into getting
into original programming. What are your thoughts on these reports and what impact it could have on Netflix.
HASTINGS: You know, we've got so many great original shows out. Our new one Narco has just launched about the history of cocaine and the great
trauma in Latin America in the 80s. And other people are doing shows, too, HBO is doing shows. FX are doing shows. BBC. So the fact that additional
tech companies maybe doing shows, that's really not that big a deal in the total number of shows being produced around the world.
Our focus is great shows. And we're executing on that.
LU STOUT: All right. We've also learned that this week that Netflix is losing a number of movie titles, for example, World War Z, Hunger Games
franchise. We know that you are famous for your original series. But Netflix made its name as this massive repository for movies. So do you
fear as you lose more movie titles that you could also be losing subscribers along the way?
HASTINGS: So, those movie titles are only in the U.S. In the rest of the world, our expansion of movie titles is continuing. We're adding new
titles all the time. And our core focus is on these new movies we're bringing out. We're debuting theatrically like Beast of No Nation that's
going to launch in September and October around the world debuting on Netflix and movie theaters in essentially the same time.
LU STOUT: Another convenience for customers would be to be able to watch videos offline. We know that Amazon is now saying it's allowing its
subscribers to watch its videos offline. Is this something that Netflix is considering?
HASTINGS: You know, we really believe in streaming when you click and watch. We're not big believers in having to decide in advance what you're
going to watch. And so we're expanding our streaming, working with mobile operators, working with wi-fi. We've got hotel integrations now built into
the TVs. So our real focus is click and watch, click and watch, because we think that's the best way.
LU STOUT: And a big picture question for you. The internet is moving so fast, it's becoming so ubiquitous, where do you see linear TV moving in
the next 10 years?
HASTINGS: Well, over the next 10 years I think linear TV stays strong. But over the next 20 or 30 years I think it's inevitable that
content moves to the internet. And many of these companies like BBC and HBO and NHK, they're already moving onto the internet.
LU STOUT: And consumer behavior, as more and more customers watch internet TV, where are we going to be watching it? Is it going to be off
of set top boxes connected to our TVs at home, or is it going to be increasingly on mobile platforms, mobile devices?
HASTINGS: Well, that's the great thing about the internet is it's so flexible. You can watch it on a mobile phone or a TV, built into the TV
with a smart TV, on a game console. So, it's basically everywhere the internet is.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: And that was Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings.
And for fans of Arrested Development out there, we did ask about season five. Afterall, it's been, what, two years since we last saw the
Bluth family. But disappointingly, Hastings said he has nothing to share right now.
You're watching News Stream. And after the break, the story of one woman who was forced into the sex trade and she was literally branded by
the man who considered her his property. Coming up, how she managed to escape and is now helping other victims redraw their futures.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:22:01] LU STOUT: Now to the CNN Freedom Project, our effort to shine a light on human trafficking. And this week, how some women have
been branded with tattoos by their traffickers and pimps. It's a practice they use to show that they own the women.
Now, CNN's Sara Sidner spoke with one survivor who raised enough money to cover her brandings. And she is now helping others to do the same.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JENNIFER KEMPTON, TRAFFICKING SURVIVOR: I've been kidnapped, held hostage, been sold. It happens on every street in every city in every
country. And it happened to me.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jennifer Kempton's story starts like so many victims of sex trafficking: a dysfunctioning family, abuse, neglect
and rape by the time she was 12.
KEMPTON: That emotionally destroyed me. And then the years that followed just added to that. I had a series of very abusive relationships.
Eventually falling into the hands of the one that I thought was just my saving grace and was going to give me that love I'd always lived for.
SIDNER: Her so-called saving grace was a trafficker named Salem.
KEMPTON: Shortly after being together, he introduced me to IV drug use.
SIDNER: Drugs and sex trafficking often go hand-in-hand. Traffickers intentionally get their young victims hooked on drugs as a way to control
them and eventually force them into prostitution.
KEMPTON: I was told that I had to use my body to take care of us now. And I started dancing at the strip clubs.
I wasn't making as much as he wanted me to. And he approached me with the false hope that I could make three times as much money in one hour by
just doing simple massages.
Needless to say on the way to my first massage client, I was told that I had to do whatever the man asked of me.
SIDNER: That was Jennifer's entrance into the dark underworld of sex trafficking where she was battered, bruised and branded.
Salem owned her. And as proof of ownership, he had his name tattooed on her body multiple times. Eventually, he sold her to a game that branded
her again.
She wound up spending more than five years on the streets of Columbus.
KEMPTON: Its a miserable existence.
SIDNER: By her 30th birthday, she'd had enough.
KEMPTON: I was so lost, I tied a rope around my neck twice and hung myself from one of the rafters in the basement. I was so done with being
used and abused and the addiction and I was done with all of it.
SIDNER: Jennifer Kempton didn't die that night. The rope broke. And in that moment, she found a reason to live.
[08:25:09] KEMPTON: God came to me and spoke to me and he said I have a purpose for you and it's not to die in the basement of a crack house.
SIDNER: Getting out wasn't easy. As hard as she fought against drug addiction and emotional stress, the tattoos were a constant reminder of her
years in sexual slavery.
KEMPTON: The horror that I had seen, the violence I had suffered, the misery I had lived in -- the rapes I went through, and the men I was sold
to, I was reminded of all of it every time.
I finally earned enough money to get my first of four coverups. It was so liberating to take his name off my body and have what I want there.
But I saw these other three tattoos, one on my neck and one right above my groin that actually said property of Salem and one my back.
So no matter what way I looked at myself in the mirror, I was always seeing one of those tattoos.
SIDNER: Jennifer told a human trafficking advocate about the property of tattoo she had on her groin.
KEMPTON: She saw it, and it made her sick to see that my trafficker had labeled me in that way as his property. she immediately took a picture
of it and sent it to a family member of hers. And that family member agreed to sponsor me to have the rest of my coverups done. And that is
what started Survivor's Ink.
SIDNER: Through Survivor's Ink, Jennifer offers financial help to women in recovery who want to cover up their brandings, women like Angela
Ritter, branded by the drug dealer who trafficked her, eager to put that part of her life behind her for good.
JENNIFER RITTER, TRAFFICKING SURVIVOR: Finally, I'm going to be me again, you know. I'm not going to belong to anybody but God. And that's
how it's supposed to be.
I can't even put words to the excitement and the joy and the anticipation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. Nice to meet you.
RITTER: Nice to meet you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You ready to get tattooed?
RITTER: I'm ready.
What it's going to be like in the morning to wake up and look at myself in the mirror and not see Black Cash Ho.
All right, let's do this.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: Wow. Got to thank Sara for her reporting and for sharing these women's stories.
And be sure to join us tomorrow for part four of her special reporting. You'll hear more of Angela Ritter's story as she gets ready to
cover up her branding. And you'll also meet the tattoo artist helping in the fight against human trafficking.
You can learn more about the CNN Freedom Project on our website CNN.com. You'll find stories of other sex trafficking victims and how
businesses are joining the fight to end modern-day slavery.
You're watching News Stream. Still to come on the program, where is the help for all the desperate migrants in Hungary? We put that basic
question to a woman who represents the UN's high commissioner for refugees.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:30:37] LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream. And these are your world headlines.
Now hundreds of migrants remain stranded in the capital of Hungary. They are barred from boarding trains bound for Germany and Austria. Now
Hungary insists the migrants must have valid travel documents. The Hungarian prime minister heads to Brussels on Thursday to discuss the
situation with EU leaders.
Thai police say fingerprints confirm that the suspect arrested on Tuesday was involved in last months deadly bombing in Bangkok. Now they
are working to confirm the authenticity of his Chinese passport. But they say he speaks Turkish. Investigators have also requested another arrest
warrant, the latest is for a Turkish man. Now police say that he is married to the Thai woman they identified as a suspect on Monday.
Officials in Paris are investigating an overnight apartment fire that killed eight people, including two children. Now the fire apparently
started on the ground floor, but it raced up a stairwell. And authorities are looking to whether it may have been intentionally set.
Now as mentioned early in the program, Hungary's prime minister will speak to EU leaders tomorrow about the crisis in his country. The UN
refugee agency says Europe has an obligation to help people fleeing from war and persecution.
I'm joined now by UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming for more on the story. Melissa, thank you for joining us here on CNN.
And first, your thoughts on this migrant mess in Hungary. We've got migrants, refugees stuck there languishing for days at a train station.
Why has it come to this?
MELISSA FLEMING, SPOKESWOMAN UNHCR: Well, absolutely. We are extremely concerned about this backlog.
What we are seeing are large numbers of refugees, and I'd like to emphasize that the majority of people coming to Europe, the majority of
people stuck in that train station, are people fleeing the conflict in Syria. After that comes Iraq and Afghanistan. So we'd like to use the
term refugee when describing them.
What we are hoping is that there will be some pragmatic solutions for the time being short-term. Let the people go so there is not this
catastrophe of people lying on the sidewalks, sleeping in the streets. Let the people go.
Meanwhile, obviously this is a wake up call to Europe that there has to be a solutions that are not just pushing one problem from one country to
the other and everybody ending up disproportionately in country's like Germany.
ANDERSON: There has to be a solution. And there has to be help for what's happening now. Our correspondent on the ground in Budapest, Arwa
Damon, she's been at the train station for days. She is not seen any international aid workers there. The migrants, they have been begging for
Germany to help, for Angela Merkel, but not the United Nations.
And I have to ask you, where is the UN during all this? During this crisis in Budapest?
FLEMING: Well, we're certainly in the background advocating for a solution to the problem -- I mean UNHCR is traditionally operational in
developing countries. We are -- we have a strong advocacy role in the capitals of Europe. These are countries who generally deal with asylum
claims and refugee issues and migration on their own.
We are happy to stand in. We've offered our help to the Hungarian government. We can't impose help. But we're advising let people take the
trains. Let people travel regularly to where they want to go. They have train tickets.
We have a situation where we need flexibility when there people were not able to take the trains, they got on the backs of the vans. And we saw
that 71 people suffocated. So, let's look at the human rights of the people and the needs of the people right now in this bottle neck situation.
Let people go and let's look at the problem globally as a European problem urgently in the coming days and weeks.
LU STOUT: Right. And just to clarify this -- the acute situation happening in Budapest, Hungary, hundreds of migrants, hundreds of refugees
who have fled war on conflict in Iraq and in Syria. They have had no beds, very little food for days. Infants that are starving. You have offered to
help and UN has offered to help, but the Hungarian officials are not allowing the UN, not allowing international aid workers to assist at this
time?
[08:35:09] FLEMING: Well, we have not any indication that people are starving. In fact, we are very heartened by civil society coming out and
offering the kinds of basic needs. What's really the problem is that people need to move on. That's the issue. And that's what we're working
and advocating for.
We understand from our Austrian colleagues that the Austrian authorities are ready to receive the people. There are officials at the
train stations, at the border of Hungary. There are people there ready to help and to receive and to allow people to also move on as they did the day
before yesterday on Saturday when there was such huge crowds coming through there.
We've seen this situation move from one country to another. There's a huge problem in the Greek Islands. 3,000 people coming to one Greek island
in one day. And the people are just moving from one country to another ending up in Germany. This is not sustainable. But in the meantime, we
shouldn't just let people languish and stuck without any solution to their problems.
LU STOUT: Right. As you point out, it's not just the situation there in Hungary, the crisis there reflects the much larger problem across the
EU. So what is the solution here? And what should the priority be for EU leaders? Should it be settling the migrants? Should it be dealing with
human smugglers? Where should they start?
FLEMING: Well, unfortunately you can't tackle one problem without the other. The migrants and refugees coming to Europe are a symbol of the
desperation that of root causes based in conflicts that are not being resolved, new conflicts that are erupting, that are driving so many people
from their homes.
The international community has proved itself incapable of preventing and stopping conflicts. And what we say is if you can't stop the conflict,
the least you can do is help the victims.
So, people are coming to Europe. We need to have systems in place. We are advising Europe. And there are some good plans on the table. For
example, to have receiving stations in country, the first country where they reach Europe. Registration possibilities, so that they don't have to
continue on this journey all the way, you know, across many borders until they reach their destination. They could apply for asylum in the first port
of entry in the EU. That's one possibility that we're looking at urgently.
LU STOUT: All right, this is a huge dilemma for Europe, a huge dilemma for humanity. Thank you so much for joining us here and sharing
your thoughts on this ongoing migrant crisis throughout the EU.
Melissa Fleming of the UNHCR joining me live. Thank you very much indeed. And take care.
Now many migrants are dying while trying to reach a better life. And if you want to help, you can go here to this website. There are links to
organizations that are working on the ground. You could also learn more about what these people are going through. You can find it all at
CNN.com/impact.
You're watching News Stream. Still to come on the program, as China prepares to show off its military in a major parade, we look at just how
large and capable its fighting force really is.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: Welcome back.
Now Beijing is making final preparations for a massive military parade that will take place tomorrow. It is expected to feature 12,000 troops,
200 fighters jets, 500 pieces of military hardware.
Now the Chinese President Xi Jinping is determined to impress the world, but just how powerful is the Chinese army?
Will Ripley takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: China's People's Liberation Army, or PLA, was named for its role in the Chinese civil war. Mao Zedong's
Communist forces defeated the existing nationalist government, forming the Communist People's Republic of China. That was October 1, 1949.
China's PLA boats more than 2.3 million active service men and women divided among the army, navy, air force and strategic missile forces, also
more than half a million reservists.
Here in China, huge sums are being spent to modernize and improve the army. Defense spending has been going up by double digit percentages
almost every year for two decades. The defense budget for 2015 was more than $140 billion, that's more than any other country aside from the United
States.
The PLA used to import many of its more sophisticated weapons, but lately it's been developing and manufacturing a lot of its own. This
includes stealth fighter bombers, and a wide range of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
China has been a nuclear power sine the 1960s and recently has believed to have developed multiple independently targetable reentry
vehicles, MIRV for short. These are missiles where a single rocket can fire multiple warheads at multiple targets.
The PLA has also gained notoriety for its cyber warfare capabilities, accused of hacking into other country's computers, stealing state and trade
secrets and using them to advance China's military and other national interests.
China's rapid beefing up of its military has caused suspicion among many of its Asian neighbors. We've been telling you about that ongoing
territorial dispute in the East China Sea over those disputed islands claimed by both China and Japan.
And China has even wider territorial claims, stretching hundreds of kilometers from its mainland coastline into the South China Sea, claims
challenged by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
The U.S is even getting involved, deliberately flying reconnaissance planes through disputed areas to challenge China's exclusion policy.
Just like China itself, the PLA has grown considerably in recent decades from outdated equipment and persistent problems with internal
corruption to an increasingly professional, confident and active fighting force.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: And that was CNN's Will Ripley reporting.
Now fans of hot cakes and sausage burritos, we just got some good news from McDonalds. Starting October 6, the restaurants across the U.S.,
though, they will start serving breakfast all day.
Now the fast food chain had been looking for new ways to boost sagging sales and hopes breakfast any time any where is the answer. In fact, one
customer, John Lee, did make that suggestion on Twitter back in 2007. Well, eight years later McDonalds finally decided to give Lee the good
news, tweeting back this, quote, "asking for McMuffin, hoping to do lunch but available all day.
And that is News Stream.
END
