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Trump Breaks Diplomatic Protocol With Taiwan Call; Remains Of Crash Victims Being Returned To Brazil; Votes Across Europe To Test Rise Of Populism; Crushing Regime Offensive Continues In Aleppo. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired December 03, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:13] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: A surprising phone call that drops some diplomatic jaws. What president-elect Donald Trump had to say to Taiwan's president and Chinese less than pleased response.

Plus, two countries, new big votes, how Italy and Austria could alter your future this weekend?

Plus, a sad return home, the remains of those killed in Monday's plane crash in Colombia come back to Brazil.

It's ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM. We're live in Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen. Thank you for joining us.

China's top diplomat says Taipei staged a "Shenanigan" with a phone call between Donald Trump and Taiwan's president.

The U.S. president-elect trump broke protocol dating back decades by talking with the Taiwan leader on Friday. China considers Taiwan a renegade province. There hasn't been official contact between Taiwan and the U.S. since 1979 because of China's position.

Elise Labott has more about it from Washington.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAR AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a stunning breach of protocol and a break with decades of U.S. foreign policy. The Trump transition team releasing a statement announcing the call with the Taiwanese president saying during the discussion, Trump and the Taiwanese president "Noted the close economic political and security ties that exist between Taiwan and the United States."

President-elect Trump also congratulating President Tsai on becoming the president of Taiwan earlier this year. The Taiwanese had said that the conversation also talked about strengthening the relationship between the U.S. and Taiwan.

Now, we understand an adviser to the Trump transition Stephen Yates is in Taiwan. He helped facilitate that call. Yates is the former adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney. He's known to be very pro- Taiwan. We're told the Obama administration was not told of the call until after it happened.

And also, already the Chinese are chiming in speaking to a Taiwanese leader is something no American president or president-elect has done for nearly 40 years because the U.S. has no diplomatic relations with Taiwan since 1979, respecting the so-called one China policy. China considers Taiwan part of its territory. Chinese state media already calling the exchange an unprecedented break in that policy and that Beijing opposes any contact between Washington and Taipei.

So this is sure to cause an initial diplomatic uproar with China even before President-elect Trump takes office. The former diplomats note that many incoming Republican administrations have sought to elevate Taiwan over China. President Reagan invited a Taiwanese delegation to his inaugural ball. And President George W. Bush also increased arm sales to Taiwan.

So while there could be some gestures of early on to show some more respect to Taiwan, long time former diplomats don't predict this will be an end to the one China policy because the relationship with China is just too important.

Elise Labott, CNN, Washington.

ALLEN: The office of Taiwan's president has issued a statement on her phone call with President-elect Trump saying, in part, "President Tsai and President-elect Trump, besides having an intimate and relaxed conversation, also shared their views on concepts on future important policy points, in particular, to promote the domestic economy and strengthen national defense. The president also expressed to President-elect Trump the desire that America would support Taiwan to have the opportunity to participate in and contribute more in international issues."

So let's get more on China's reaction and the possible repercussions. Steven Jiang is our reporter there for us in Beijing. And interesting we have a little more information coming from Taiwan about that phone call was about. Beijing so far has called it some -- may be some sort of trickery on Taiwan's part. The issue is whether it be will remain a small little trick or evolve in to something bigger in China's eyes, Steven?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Natalie, that's right. The Shenanigan term came from China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi who responded to a reporter's question about this phone call earlier on Saturday.

Mr. Wang also says, "I don't think it will change the one China policy that U.S. administrations have adhered to over the years. The one China policy is a cornerstone of a healthy China-U.S. relationship. And I hope this political foundation won't be disrupted or damaged."

[03:05:01] So here we have it, the first official response from China over this phone call. It seems, for now, they are trying to give the Trump team the benefit of the doubt by placing the blame on Taiwan for this very sharp breach of diplomatic practice and protocol.

Probably because Natalie, like many others the Chinese government is also trying to decipher the true meaning of this phone call. Was it just a blunder because of the Trump teams and experience in foreign policy, or was it something more significant does it signal a major policy shift by the incoming White House?

And I think it's going to take sometime for them to reach a final conclusion. But interestingly, Natalie, Mr. Xi Jingping, the Chinese President did meet with the former U.S. Secretary State, Henry Kissinger here in Beijing on Friday.

And Mr. Xi told Mr. Kissinger who of course was instrumental in establishing diplomatic ties between Beijing and Washington in the 1970s. Mr. Xi said, it is critically important for both sides to correctly understand each other's strategic intentions. And I think now, Mr. Xi must be wondering what Mr. Trump's strategic intentions are and whether or not Mr. Trump is somebody china can do business with in the next four years, Natalie?

ALLEN: I believe Henry Kissinger has also met with Donald Trump since he was elected president, as well. So he probably had some insight to all of this. What might China's response be further as they analyze what Taiwan said about having more policies or more input in world affairs? I think I got that right.

JIANG: That's right. I think both sides realize this important -- this relationship, this bilateral relationship is too important to be hijacked by any single issue. But Taiwan is a so-called red line that China does not allow people to cross, without bearing consequences. And then Mr. Trump has crossed that line. So I think that's why many foreign experts, foreign policy expert say this was an extremely risky and reckless move that will have an impact on this relationship even before Mr. Trump takes office.

But I think it's also fair to say, it's a very steep learning curve on both sides for Mr. Trump and his team. They are learning to navigate a very intricate and complicated international relations map and for Mr. Xi's team, they like many other officials around the world trying to adapt this new reality of the president-elect in the U.S. conducting most of his business and foreign policy and diplomacy on Twitter. Natalie?

ALLEN: Yeah. Steven, thank you so much. Speaking of Twitter, I'm going to read those tweets now. He did defend his conversation with the Taiwan leaders tweeting, "The president of Taiwan called me today to wish me congratulations on winning the presidency. Thank you."

He also tweeted, "Interesting how the U.S. sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment. But I should not accept a congratulatory call."

A top Trump adviser was also quick to defend his exchange. Kellyanne Conway spoke earlier with CNN's Anderson Cooper and implied Trump was fully aware of its possible consequences.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP SENIOR ADVISER: I can't discuss anything beyond what's been publicly said. And I won't do that. And this is the president-elect, this will be his administration. He'll be commander in chief and he'll be president of the United States imminently now. And he either will disclose or not disclose the full content of that conversation. But he is well aware of what the U.S. policy has been.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST "ANDERSON COOPER 360": There have been questions raised about the briefing materials that President-elect Trump has used in phone calls with world leaders, whether or not he's used state department briefing booklets and information there, and, you know, the expertise of people from the state department that's been available to him. Can you confirm if he did consult that before this phone call?

CONWAY: I can confirm he has access to those materials and he has access to daily briefings. He has access to other information that comes to him from official government agencies.

COOPER: Does he uses them?

CONWAY: Of course he uses it. He reads everything. And the guy is the busiest guy in the planet pretty much has been for a while now. But the president-elect is fully engaged works puts in just pours the time in has talk to. He and Vice President-elect Pence have talked to probably about 45 or 50 leaders by now or met them. And has talked to probably 80 people or so as advisers, folks who are offering their counsel, their experiences, their vision, whether or not they ended up being official part of his administration aside, they are just people who want to offer their expertise as captains of industry or folks who have been opinion leaders or people who have been active in government in policy making.

And so, that will continue. And he takes information provided that is given to him and provide and he avails himself of any number different of information sources including those that come from the state department and including those that come from intelligence briefings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:10:05] ALLEN: Trump had a phone conversation with another Asian leader on Friday. The controversial Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. He has been called the Trump of the east for his temperament and has threatened to sever ties with the U.S. Mr. Duterte spoke with the media after speaking with Trump and said, "The President-elect Trump wishes to extend his warmest regards to the Filipino people. In just a few minutes we were talking a lot of things. He was sensitive to the war on drugs and he wishes me well in my campaign and said that we are doing, as he so put it, "The right way." What we are doing the right way.

In other news now, the victims of Monday's plane crash in Colombia are on their final journey going back home to Brazil. The first plane of coffins is set to arrive in less than one hour. The second and third will arrive soon after.

Shasta Darlington has more on the sendoff from Medellin.

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The agonizing way for so many families and friends is slowly coming to an end. They have been loading 64 victims of the LAMIA crash onto military aircraft right here behind me. Fifty bodies will be carried back to Brazil. They were brought in on hearses from different funeral homes. This comes days after the crash. It took -- first the bodies had to be identified. Then they had to be prepared.

Now, they're finally beginning the long journey home. It was a somber tribute with lines of military officials and a priest in place to give a short blessing. Then the coffins put on board these planes. They will fly as far as Manao for a layover and fuel -- refueling. Then they will continue on to Chepeco. On board are the bodies of 19 members of the Chapecoense soccer team back in Chapeco.

There are so many fans and supporters will be waiting for them. They'll have another tribute at the stadium. There are hundreds of thousands are expected to turn out for that. This has been a devastating turn of event for the entire Brazilian town. And really for the country itself where three days of mourning were declared but it also brings to an end such a long and agonizing period for all of those waiting to see who survived and who unfortunately did not make it.

Shasta Darlington, CNN, Medellin, Colombia.

ALLEN: Austria and Italy are having crucial votes this weekend. And the result could drastically change the political fabric of Europe. We'll have more about it in a moment.

And under mounting pressure to resign, South Korea's president has left her fate in the hands of her parliament and thousands are telling her, that's not enough. That's ahead.

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[03:15:10] ALLEN: The political fabric of Europe is being stretched in unusual ways right now. Two separate votes Sunday could bring a new political reality, one that is more populous and leans more to the right. Austria has its presidential election rerun. Voters there could elect Norbert Hofer, that's in there, as the first far right head of state since the end of World War II.

And people of Italy will vote in a constitutional referendum. The Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said, he will quit if the proposed reforms are rejected.

Dominic Thomas is the chair of the Department of French and Francophone Studies at UCLA. He joins us now from Los Angeles via Skype. Professor Thomas, thanks for talking with us.

DOMINIC THOMAS, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES: It's a pleasure.

ALLEN: With the referendum on Sunday, Italy's prime minister could be crushed. What are Italians voting on specifically?

THOMAS: It's a very interesting situation. You've got this two prime minister. He's only been in office for two years, 41-years-old, young, dynamic, really trying to sort of get things going in Italy. And so essentially what he's trying to do to achieve that objective is change the constitution in order to sort of better streamline a decision making, legislative measures and speed things up a little bit.

In order to do this, he has asked the Italian people to weigh in on a referendum on Sunday in which one of the major measures imposed is to reduce in this House. They are very complicated electoral system, 945 elected officials. And the idea is to take from the upper house the 300 and reduce them to 100. And then to let the lower house where 630 deputies sits make decisions on legislation.

The risk that he's taking however is to essentially attach the future of his prime ministership to the outcome of this referendum, he's very much wants the people to weigh in on this. And this has given an opportunity to bet the agree all, he runs the five star movement that sort of leftist, Euro skeptic, national identity kind of driven party. And also the northern league is anti-immigrant migrant party an opportunity to try to throw him out of power and force an election which paradoxically without electoral reforms that have already been put in to place would give them a real advantage.

ALLEN: Yeah, this sounds like Britain and the Brexit vote taking it to the people.

THOMAS: It's really in a remarkable what's happened in Europe in the last five or six months. The Brexit vote essentially, you know, is going to remove the United Kingdom from the European Union. And this wave of sort of populist, the Euro skeptic or anti-Euro fold within the defense of national identity and protectionist mode, we certainly saw it in America with the Trump election and we're seeing it throughout in Europe with the Austrian vote coming up also this weekend and the French vote. And that is going to be taking place next spring.

ALLEN: Right. I want to talk about Austria, if he wins, Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer will be the first far-right president in Western Europe since the end of World War II. That sounds quite significant.

THOMAS: It does sound significant. And a lot of people are talking about that particular moment in history and what government is trying to achieve in the aftermath with the Second World War, the kinds of views of a more integrated Europe that they're trying to put together. This is the second time that this election is going to take place because in April last year there was an attempt to elect a president and because of suspected electoral fraud, the results were annulled. They tried it again in September and there were issues with ballot envelopes and so on. So we have here yet again the leader of the Green Party, Alexander Van der Bellen going up against Norbert Hofer who represents this Freedom Party for Austria that is an extreme right-wing party, anti-immigrant, anti-immigration party and certainly, although he's been careful about it Euro skeptic at best.

Now, this is for the president, not the chancellor. It is essentially an honorific office. That the chancellor does have an opportunity -- president does have an opportunity to elect the chancellor and cabinet members. And if Hofer wins the Austrians will be forced to go to the polls to determine who will lead this country going forward in 2017.

ALLEN: Let us paint a broad brush here. As you see these things developing in Europe and you see the United States going with Donald Trump, what do you say about these movements, the people what they are saying?

THOMAS: Right, well, the election of Donald Trump, as with the Brexit vote, as with the Italian vote and so on, if the polls we know now are completely unpredictable, we saw the French president step down the other day. It was the first time since 1958 that a sitting president has not run for re-election with the exception of course with Pompidou who died in office or Francois Hollande that already had two terms. But that is incomplete disarray.

[03:20:01] The right managed in one week to essentially get rid of Nicolas Sarkozy the former president and Alain Juppe, the former prime minister. And to nominate in the french primary a very right-wing candidate whose platform actually looks very much like the far-right Marine Le Pen in terms of questions of national identity and so on to.

And what the Trump election also did is I think give legitimacy to so many of these far-right political parties in Europe that have struggled to be elected. They share points of commonality in terms of their anti-establishment position. Their desire to sort of make France great again, make Austria great again and to essentially this populous parties, anti-establishment, anti-lease and they're garnering an of a lot of support.

ALLEN: We appreciate you joining us and your expertise. Dominic Thomas with UCLA, thank you.

THOMAS: It's a pleasure. Thank you.

ALLEN: We want to turn to Asia now. Even with impeachment proceedings set to begin next week, protests against President Park Geun-hye are not slowing down in South Korea. This is live video. Look at the masses of people that continue to take to the streets every night. They are demanding, as they have for weeks, that President Park resign immediately.

She did announce on Tuesday she would let parliament decide her fate and they are set to do just that this coming Friday. But that hasn't satisfied the many South Koreans who want her out sooner than later.

Out gunned and surrounded, rebels in Aleppo, Syria, say they have created due alliance to take on regime forces. It appears to be a last-ditch effort aimed at repealing a crushing government assault.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in the Damascus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Another day, more violence in Aleppo. The youngest suffering the most, this video from the Syrian civil defense showing rescuers saving a child after a suspected air strike, the fighting claiming at least 45 lives on Wednesday alone, according to monitoring groups.

Over 30,000 people mostly children have been displaced since government forces launched a large scale offensive making sweeping gains in the east of Aleppo, the U.N. says.

In Rome, efforts continue to try and broker some sort of truce and the delivery of humanitarian aid to the besieged area, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meeting Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: And so hopefully, if the humanitarian situation can be dealt with in Aleppo more effectively. And if indeed we could create a framework for the passage of people out of Aleppo so that Aleppo itself might be able to be relieved from this agony. That could open up the space to perhaps be able to start some kind of conversation in Geneva.

PLEITGEN: Even as its air force pounds rebel positions, Russia said it's still committed to a political solution in Syria.

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER, (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): There's no military solution to the Syrian conflict. We support this position within the framework of the International Syria Support Group. Unfortunately, not all of its members were ready to support this common position that there is no military solution. But I'm sure it is absolutely clear any way, even without formal acceptance of this point of view.

PLEITGEN: In a desperate effort to fend off Syrian government troops, rebel factions in the besiege areas of Aleppo have announced a new alliance named the Army of Aleppo. But their fight remains desperate in the face of an offensive that is already cost the opposition much of the territory it held in Aleppo for years.

Frederik Pleitgen, CNN, Damascus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: And Derek Van Dam is here now to talk about Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The death toll has risen to 13 after the monster wildfire. Really? I don't know if it destroyed the town or ripped the town. How would you characterize it?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR: Well, 700 confirmed structures damaged in and around the Gatlinburg area. So you can imagine just how devastating that is for people, the sense of loss right now. Especially leading up to Christmas and the holiday season there just probably you can really just feel it.

We've -- we want to show you video. A gentleman shot this walking around some of the burn areas. This is just one of the 700 structures that you can just see the chimneys still left intact there. Thirteen confirmed fatalities, the fire head communities in Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and the surrounding areas adjacent to the great Smoky Mountain National Park. They're preparing for Christmas there and it's final few weeks of a very bustling tourist season coming off of a beautiful fall.

The feelings of loss was simply just really, really challenging right now. While many areas within the base of fire perimeter didn't burn, the City of Gatlinburg lies directly in the center of this fire perimeter.

[03:25:10] And I want to show that because we've done some of the calculations about -- just how bad this is. Here is Gatlinburg, anywhere you see that shading of orange that's the current burn area. And that covers over 17,000 acres, almost 18,000 and that's equivalent to 27.9 square miles. And if you did the math and calculations, that is significantly larger than the entire size of Manhattan. Really puts it in to perspective. This also puts in to perspective, some the before and after images. This is courtesy of Digital Globe 2016. So you're actually looking at the satellite of bird's eye view zoomed in to the greater Gatlinburg area. This is before. And as we advance the graphics you can see the burn scars left in the wake of the fire that advanced through this region.

And you can see the damaged buildings across this area. These are people's homes, these are people's livelihoods. You can only imagine if this was to happen to you how terrible this would be.

So we really, our hearts break for these people. And we think about them. There so many efforts out there to try and bring some volunteers to the area of course, a lot of people donating their time and their money as well in the recovery effort.

Of course the southeast is still in the midst of a major drought. There is some good news, though. We need at least two to three days of solid rain to help to quell this drought. And it looks as if we might get some of that answer coming from Sunday right through Monday and Tuesday. You can see the amount of rainfall we have forecast across the region. Upwards of a couple of inches, especially in and around the burns that are still ongoing across the southeast.

ALLEN: All right, my good ness. Derek, thank you.

VAN DAM: You're welcome.

ALLEN: Well, Friday was a day of tears and remembrance in San Bernardino, California. Crowds gathered to mark the first anniversary of the mass shooting at the Inland Regional Center. Fourteen people were killed, shot dead by a married couple at a holiday party.

The attackers were killed in a shootout with police. Authorities say the couple was inspired by extremism and had ISIS sympathies. Here's what one survivor said at a memorial service honoring the victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIE SWANN-PAEZ, SAN BERNARDINO SHOOTING SURVIVOR: I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. And I think I speak on behalf of all of my co-workers and families to extend my sincerest appreciation for the communities and for everyone's support. Thank you. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: So much pain one year on, survivor of the San Bernardino shooting speaking on the anniversary of that tragedy.

And that is CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen. I'll be right back with our headlines.

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