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The Amanpour Hour

Interview with Former Trump Appointee to U.S. State Department Matthey Bartlett; Interview with Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell; Interview with Former Israeli Minister of Justice Yossi Beilin; Interview with Palestinian Attorney and Veteran Peace Negotiator Hiba Husseini; Kim Jung-un's Daughter Makes International Debut in China; Interview with "The 10" Author E.A. Hanks; Concerns Grow Over Dalai Lama Succession. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired September 06, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:44]

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello everyone. And welcome to THE AMANPOUR HOUR.

Here's where we're headed this week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: A historic show of force in Beijing with China's President Xi Jinping raising the axis of resistance to the U.S.-led world order.

I asked Kurt Campbell and Matthew Bartlett, two former State Department officials under Biden and Trump 1.0, about the fallout.

Then -- mired in a regional death trap, choosing cooperation over division, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators Yossi Beilin and Hiba Husseini share a bold new plan for peace, the Holy Land Confederation.

Also, with his daughter making her first international debut has North Korea's Kim Jong-un just revealed his successor?

Plus, E.A. Hanks opens up about her troubled childhood and life as the daughter of Oscar-winning movie star Tom Hanks.

E.A. HANKS, AUTHOR, "THE 10": If my father's world is a fantasy and my mother's world was a nightmare, I think the book is really about trying to ground myself not only in my reality, but in the larger reality that is America.

AMANPOUR: And from my archives, as Beijing tries to control Tibet's future with the 90-year-old Dalai Lama's successor in question, I go back to my interview with him in Indian exile.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Welcome to the program, everyone. I'm Christiane Amanpour in London. 80 years ago this week, World War II finally came to an end as Supreme

Allied Commander Douglas MacArthur, witnessed the formal Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, a war that unearthed the horrific Nazi slaughter of 6 million Jews that saw some 20 million soldiers die on battlefields, often far from home and 50 million more civilian deaths before coming to a brutal end with the nuclear blast in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

From it rose a new global order led by the United States that has so far prevented a World War III.

But on this anniversary, are we seeing a new world order emerge? Chinese leader Xi Jinping would like to think so. And this week, he marked the anniversary with a massive military parade in Beijing. His VIP guests, a coalition of anti-Western leaders -- Russian, North Korean and Iranian were also there this week as the tariff-happy U.S. pushes away its traditional allies.

I asked where all this might lead with Kurt Campbell, the architect of President Obama's efforts to pivot to Asia; and Matthew Bartlett, a former Trump appointee to the State Department.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Welcome both of you to the program.

I think I want to get a gut reaction or a considered geopolitical reaction from both of you on the display that we just saw and that I just described in Beijing. It was very powerful.

Matthew Bartlett, as a former Trump administration official in his first term, what do you make of it? What is the message to the United States?

MATTHEW BARTLETT, FORMER TRUMP APPOINTEE TO U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: I mean, the optics of this are striking. This has been called the new axis of upheaval, a playoff of Michael Gerson's old term from the Bush years. But it certainly illustrates to the world, you know, this potential new divide where these fault lines are and how America and the West, you know, must confront this in a myriad of different ways, from a security to a trade, economic, energy, and that this is becoming much more apparent I think as we drive deeper into the 21st century.

AMANPOUR: You know, it seems that Trump is ceding control. Is that a fair thing to say? He had a summit with Putin in Alaska, which went pretty much nowhere except in Putin's favor. He's got all these issues, as I described, of alienating some key allies who he needs, if he's going to somehow confront or deal with the China challenge.

[11:04:53}

AMANPOUR: But is he doing what he needs to do to keep that security for America?

KURT CAMPBELL, FORMER U.S. DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: I would say the key to American strength on the international stage is our ability over decades to work with friends and partners to correct -- to create a kind of operating system.

One of the key swing states has been India. I would argue that the U.S.-India relationship might be the most important bilateral relationship for the United States in the 21st century.

In recent months, however, it appears that the president actually is more focused on trying to build bridges and curry favor with Putin and Xi, rather than with these partners that we've been discussing.

All those capitals in the West are deeply worried about the trajectory of the U.S. relationship with allies and partners and are wondering about the way ahead. Probably the biggest display and the most concerning one, despite the incredible military capabilities.

But at a political level, Christiane, it is seeing Prime Minister Modi, who has worked so closely with the United States in so many ways, hugging it up in Beijing with both Putin and Xi. That concerns me.

AMANPOUR: So, what I don't understand is what Trump is getting out of, let's say, cozying up to Putin.

At the Alaska Summit there was a lot of outrage at the red-carpet treatment, at the refusal to take any questions in any press conference at the final decision by Trump to go against his allies, go against Zelenskyy and sort of dismiss the idea of a ceasefire first.

And also, just symbolically, Sergey Lavrov arrived, I'm told, wearing a sweatshirt with the Cyrillic letters of the Soviet Union in the United States. I mean, that's a major middle finger, I think.

And then they go to China and they -- you know, and they, you know, flaunt their axis of anti-Americanism and anti-Westernism.

So Matthew, what more does Trump need to do to be the superpower, have America be the superpower, not just as sort of an isolationist America only power?

BARTLETT: Yes, let's just be clear. You know, Putin is the devil. He is a murderous, invading dictator. That is a fact. But sometimes you have to deal with the devil. You have to compromise with the devil and know that the devil is not trustworthy.

You have to see the American president try to push him and pressure him to peace talks. Directionally speaking, we had a meeting with Putin, then we had an amazing meeting with so many leaders in the West. Directionally, this may have been better than the war had gone in many, many years, yet we should not measure this on direction but rather outcomes. And since then, Putin has grown even more aggressive.

Treasury Secretary Bessent called it despicable, his actions. The president, the first lady have spoken out on this. You've seen the secondary tariffs on India. You've seen a massive weapon sale to NATO, you know, talk about security agreements to prevent the war. No. We're talking about potential strategies (ph) to end this war.

How do you have leverage over Putin to bring him to the table, to negotiate some sort of a diplomatic end to this? It's a very difficult thing. You don't want to enhance, expand this war, you want to extinguish it.

CAMPBELL: Fundamentally, it is with Putin. And that the only thing that he will understand is more pressure. And so, I think we're hopeful that the president will actually take some steps and sanctions, asking for some of that Russian money in European banks, continuing to provide arms to Ukraine.

There has been discussion of that, but if you look, there is a clear disconnect between the rhetoric of disappointment in Russia. And also suggesting that you're going to support Ukraine more. There hasn't been as much follow through as we'd like to see.

I think the key to the Biden approach, Christiane, was to try to ensure that the United States was working closely with key allies and partners in Europe and in Asia.

And I give Matthew credit. That was really the byline and the approach in the first Trump administration. This time around, there is a clear inclination, I think, to approach problems by ourselves. There is a degree of alienation with our allies and partners, and we are now confronted by a remarkable and dangerous combination of states that were on display in China over the last day and a half.

[11:09:48]

AMANPOUR: Well, finally then to you, Matthew Bartlett, because in the first term Trump did try to reign in North Korea's nuclear ambitions. And here was he on stage, Kim Jong Un. He never travels abroad basically. There he was with all the world leaders and he's now basically a nuclear power and being accepted as such. That must be really scary given what Kurt has just said.

BARTLETT: You now have a meeting of unaligned countries of theocracies, dictators, authoritarian leaders. This is a threat to the U.S, this is a threat to the West, a threat to the global order.

And what is this? This is -- they are not pressuring Putin to end the war, they are pressuring Putin to continue to pump gas at the expense of Ukraine. Ukraine is on the menu at that summit. And what's next could potentially be Taiwan and other hotspots around the world. So, yes, the optics are horrific but the foreboding could be even worse.

AMANPOUR: Well, we'll continue the discussions.

Thank you very much for being with us, Matthew Bartlett and Kurt Campbell.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Coming up later on the program, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators Yossi Beilin and Hiba Husseini share their unique vision for the Holy Land.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOSSI BEILIN, FORMER ISRAELI MINISTER OF JUSTICE: I don't think that we should sit and watch what is happening and say, ok, until Hamas is gone, the same situation will continue and we will have a war forever in Gaza. No, it is nonsense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: Also ahead, growing up in the Hollywood fishbowl -- E.A. Hanks, daughter of Tom bares all.

[11:11:24]

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AMANPOUR: Welcome back.

Antiwar protesters are raising the stakes in Israel this week, marching to the prime minister's residence demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of the hostages. Instead, he prepares to massively expand the war into Gaza City. Despite this horror, somehow people from both sides are still working together and searching for real solutions.

Key among them, my next guests. Israeli politician Yossi Beilin, who helped launch the Oslo process; and Palestinian legal adviser and negotiator Heba Husseini. They joined me here in London to share their unique plan, the Holy Land Confederation and what it offers that past peace plans haven't.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Let me ask you both. Since you are right in my line of sight, Hiba Husseini, what is the two-state solution with a twist? What is the plan for the Holy Land as you have both outlined?

HIBA HUSSEINI, PALESTINIAN ATTORNEY AND VETERAN PEACE NEGOTIATOR: Indeed. Thank you. The Holy Land with a twist is a proposal, an umbrella, an idea out of the box, very innovative, to enable the two- state solution through a confederate arrangement whereby two sovereign states enter into the confederation together. State recognition of the State of Palestine as a sovereign state.

Israel and Palestine then enter into this confederate arrangement, because the confederation provides this vehicle for the two to realize their strategic interests, maintain their presence on the land share their future together.

AMANPOUR: So, Yosi Beilin, you've been, you know, around the table where it happens. Why is this -- or is this more easy to get past the consensus and public opinion than the official two-state solution as viewed by Oslo? What makes this, in your mind, more of a goer than the previous ones which have failed? BEILIN: Well, it is much more for the decision makers. For them, the current situation in which if you make peace, you have to evacuate about half a million Israelis from the West Bank is politically very, very difficult. Although, theoretically, this is the right thing to do.

We are suggesting that in -- under the confederation, the Israelis who will find themselves in the Palestinian future state, and it is about 200,000 Israelis, will have the right to choose between going back to the Sovereign Israel and remaining wherever they are, nobody will touch them in a situation in which they are permanent residents of Palestine and remain Israeli citizens.

And the same number of Palestinian citizens who would like to live in Israel will be allowed to do that in the context of the arrangement of the of the Israelis who will live in the West Bank.

AMANPOUR: So, you're saying potentially a number -- let's say 200,000, which is the number you floated of Israelis, stay in the settlements, but they abide by Palestinian rules although they are Israeli citizens. I mean, stick with me.

But the Palestinians, either from the Occupied West Bank or Gaza, a similar number could come to Israel?

BEILIN: Right.

AMANPOUR: Who's going to accept that?

BEILIN: Well, I believe that this is the main obstacle to peace, not for Netanyahu and the extremists in his government, Ben-Gvir and the others.

[11:19:47]

BEILIN: But for people who want to have peace, the Gantz of this world, the Lapid of this world, the Golan of this world, they would like to make this, and they understand that the division of -- the partition of the land is the only solution since ever. But the issue of the evacuation is the biggest, biggest obstacle in order to make peace.

AMANPOUR: I want to ask you Hiba Husseini, because I think there's not really an Israeli consensus, much less a Palestinian consensus. The war has radicalized all sides to a point where, you know, the idea of a peaceful coexistence seems to be far away on the horizon.

Do you think that a Palestinian State would -- or the precursor would accept all the settlers to stay. Do you think they can be trusted to abide by Palestinian laws?

HUSSEINI: Well, I mean these are -- this is very challenging indeed. I mean, I think the crux here is that for this -- the -- this occupation to end for us to realize our independence and statehood and right to self-determination, if it means that we have to accept a certain number of permanent residents, they will no longer be settlers, they will become permanent residents, law abiding permanent residents.

And this is very challenging indeed. And if they don't accept, they have the option to stay in the State of Israel through the swap arrangements.

AMANPOUR: Swaps of land or swaps of people?

HUSSEINI: Of land. Of land. Of land.

AMANPOUR: Yes.

Look, Netanyahu keeps saying that the idea is to destroy Hamas. The Arab states, in a very unprecedented joint statement, called for Hamas to disarm and give up any notion of power. That's never happened publicly before in that regard. It was just a few month -- a month or so ago.

Do you think that it will disarm and give up its aspirations to any kind of political or even military presence? And do you think that Israel can destroy Hamas in the way that the government says?

BEILIN: Not in this way. Not in this way. And I don't think that we should sit and watch what is happening and say, ok, until Hamas is gone, the same situation will continue and we will have a war forever in Gaza. No, it is nonsense.

What has to happen is that we should demand that Hamas will never be part of the government in Gaza. This is, I think, more than reasonable to demand.

If they don't move, then we'll have to take -- to do our best in order to try and release the hostages and leave the place, not to remain there on a square kilometer in order for the Palestinian Authority to enter Gaza. This is the only solution.

AMANPOUR: And to you, Hiba, the U.S. is also unclear about what it wants. Can anything happen without U.S. support for what you guys are saying and the general public consensus around -- or the global consensus around a two-state solution?

HUSSEINI: We need the support of the U.S., we need the support of Europe, we need the support of the Arab states, the international community. This conflict cannot be resolved by Israelis and Palestinians alone because it has become not only a regional, but also a global conflict in a sense.

Yes. But I think the position of the U.S. has to be more even keel and -- it has to take into account the fact that Palestinian interest and Israeli interest have to be treated equally and have to be addressed in a meaningful way to realize peace and security in -- for Israelis and Palestinians, for the region, for the international -- for the globe.

So, I think it's very, very important for the Palestinian Authority to return to Gaza, to be empowered, for Hamas to work with the Palestinian Authority and for us to alleviate what is going on in Gaza first.

Our plan is to provide, again, a vision so that for the two-state solution post this horrific period of time.

AMANPOUR: Well, it's great to know that two people working together from different sides of this conflict are still as committed as you are and working so hard. It should give people a lot of -- you know, of energy to try to work this out.

So, thank you very much for being with us. Yossi Beilin and --

BEILIN: Thank you for having us.

AMANPOUR: -- Hiba Husseini, thank you very much.

HUSSEINI: Thank you very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Up next, did that show of strength in America reveal North Korea's succession story too?

CNN's Mike Valerio reports on Kim Jong-un's daughter's international debut.

[11:24:33]

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AMANPOUR: Welcome back everyone.

Now North Korea is not called the Hermit Kingdom for nothing -- opaque, impenetrable, often an exercise in reading tea leaves. So when Kim Jung-un joined this week's big Beijing shindig, only his 11th trip abroad since taking power 14 years ago, observers took notice. But when his young daughter was spotted, fevered speculation about succession was unleashed.

CNN's Mike Valerio has this report about Kim Ju Ae's debut onto the international stage, and what it might mean for the world's most mysterious nation.

[11:29:52]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amid the red-carpet welcome for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, his armored train pulling into Beijing's station flanked by members of the Chinese military, North Korea watchers immediately spotted a girl standing just behind Kim.

Her name is believed to be Kim Ju Ae, daughter of the North Korean leader. And we say "believed" because North Korea is shrouded in secrecy and so little is known about her. We don't even know exactly how old she is, pre-teen or young teenager. VALERIO: But we do know she, in recent years, has been seen trailing her father at high profile events, fueling speculation that she could one day be Kim's successor.

Her public debut, in fact, was at this 2022 intercontinental ballistic missile test launch. We only knew about her existence before the launch because American basketball star and Kim's friend, Dennis Rodman, told "The Guardian" newspaper in 2013 he held Kim's baby, named Ju Ae.

Fast forward to this week, she's seen smiling as a high ranking official, the de facto chief of staff of the Chinese Communist Party greets her father. But the younger Kim was not seen at Wednesday's ceremonies at Tiananmen Square.

Kim's daughter has been present more often at Kim's side for nearly three years, instead of his wife, Ri Sol-ju or his sister Kim Yo Jong.

Experts say events from presiding over North Korean military parades, attending sporting events, even inaugurating a new beach resort could be part of her training to lead.

There's also a potential message to the world that the Kim dynasty, which has ruled North Korea since its founding, could continue with Kim's daughter. She perhaps one day walking in the footsteps of her father, side by side with those who hope to forge a new world order.

Mike Valerio, CNN -- Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. I got it. Churchill said it once.

Coming up next, E.A. hanks reveals the trauma of her childhood. How she would swing from the glamor of movie sets with her Oscar-winning dad, Tom, to a home full of uncertainty and pain with her mother.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANKS: In a night where there was no anticipating what would set her off, my breathing seemed to set her off. Something internal just reached a breaking point, and she decided that the solution for the bad night she was having was to start hitting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:32:18]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back. In this week's "Letter from London", my conversation with the daughter of a Hollywood legend who's putting her own difficult childhood in the spotlight. For E.A. Hanks, shuttling between divorced parents, it could seem quite glamorous, often on movie sets alongside her famous father, Tom. But growing up with her late mother, the actress Susan Dillingham, was a very different story, often dark and unstable.

In her new autobiography, "The 10", Hanks takes readers on a cross- country journey, recreating a trip along Interstate 10 that she had taken with her mother to try and unearth her past and come to terms with it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: First of all, thank you for being here.

HANKS: It's my immense pleasure.

AMANPOUR: Secondly, I said a lot of things in that intro that's uncomfortable, frankly. Was it difficult to write about your mother, warts and all, in this incredibly revealing way?

HANKS: It wasn't uncomfortable because it's the truth. And I think even if the truth is uncomfortable, that's where I'm most interested in going. If my father's world is a fantasy and my mother's world was a nightmare, I think the book is really about trying to ground myself, not only in my reality, but in the larger reality that is America, which is very good on a road trip.

AMANPOUR: So just -- so that we understand, what was it that made you afraid and what was the abuse that you suffered at her hands --

HANKS: I think if you --

AMANPOUR: -- throughout her condition?

HANKS: Well, she never had a formal diagnosis because obviously she refused to see mental health professionals. But me and my therapist, you can imagine, have discussed it once or twice.

And the kind of working definition that I have that helps me kind of put her in a context is a paranoid bipolar disorder with sort of delusional tendencies, because my mother heard the voice of God, which she answered out loud in public all the time.

So, she was a sort of bizarre figure who had a very hard time keeping reality in line, which is why I had so many questions. I didn't know where she was born. I didn't know how she grew up. I didn't know where she went to high school or what her first job was. I barely knew how she met my father, which by the way, was in the theater department of Sacramento State.

And the fear that I had from her is the fear that anyone has of someone whose temper has no limit and who can be set off by anything. I've realized in the course of talking about this book that my mom was my first beat because I -- when you have a beat, you know it inside and out.

I knew -- I could tell what would set her off before it set her off. I could tell if it was a good day or a bad day, and that microscopic detail to someone's temper means that it's a life on very thin ice.

[11:39:48]

AMANPOUR: Yes, as you've described it in the book and something very burdensome for a young child to have to grapple with. She was also, you say, a cocaine addict for a while.

Look, you have a pretty -- many interesting passages, but we're going to ask you to read one passage from the book --

HANKS: Yes.

AMANPOUR: -- that describes this mood shift.

HANKS: Sure. "

For a long while, my mother and I were never alone together. She'd gathered a cast of characters around herself as a shield. For years she had believed that my father was paying people to spy on her, following her and tapping her phone lines.

One weekend, I've arrived for my visit and in our living room discovered a random man with multiple guns and a German Shepherd in tow and was told he would be sleeping in our living room from then on.

That was also when I started finding guns everywhere in the old sewing box where we kept remote controls for the television, for instance."

AMANPOUR: I mean, you know, it does sound terrifying, and this was because you say arrived from my visit. At one point, you were separated from her.

HANKS: Yes.

AMANPOUR: Your father intervened when some -- what happened?

HANKS: So, there was one night where sort of my mother's threats finally followed through, and in a night where there was no anticipating what would set her off, my breathing seemed to set her off. Something internal just reached a breaking point, and she decided that the solution for the bad night she was having was to start hitting.

And you know, an abusive situation that does not actually usually involve a physical altercation is hard to intervene in. But once we had the receipts of physical abuse, that's when I was able to essentially switch custody.

AMANPOUR: Where was Tom Hanks in all of this? How did he allow his daughter to live through this? He did intervene, but did you ever ask yourself that?

HANKS: Of course, and I've asked him that. And there's a lot of history in my book. But one of the things I did not quite have space for was the intricacies of family law in California in the late 80s. And it's that thing of there -- the courts require receipt of consistent physical abuse. You can't say, well, sometimes she talks to God and it makes my friends uncomfortable or there's a lot of guns, because there's a lot of guns in a lot of houses in America.

So, the nuance became, well, what is that fit that -- you know, that river that should never be crossed. And once it was, my dad was empowered by the state, by police, by lawyers to step in.

AMANPOUR: The other interesting way you put it is about your father and you call the phenomenon around him, Hanks Cola.

HANKS: Yes.

AMANPOUR: You talk about how your mother viewed his success as kind of catastrophic, not stratospheric, catastrophic for her.

HANKS: Catastrophic fame.

AMANPOUR: Talk to me about the Hanks Cola first.

HANKS: Hanks Cola is how I describe the situation of my father being who he is to my closest friends. And to me it's a -- you know, Hanks Cola, it's a brand. It's bought and sold, and everybody in the world recognizes it and buys it and it makes them feel good.

But if you have too much of it, it will rot your insides. It will -- AMANPOUR: You're not saying that about your dad, are you?

HANKS: No, no, no, because it's -- because this is what I mean by catastrophic fame. What is catastrophe? A catastrophe is an eradication, and I think there is a level of fame where parts of your humanity become eradicated.

People forget that my dad is a person. People forget that my dad is an artist, and he just becomes Hanks Cola. And that is a trickledown effect where we're all kind of dealing with the fact that there's a divide between what the public is aware of and the brand that is used to sell myriad things from movies to instant coffee that supports American troops.

And, you know, forgets the fact that this is a working artist, a once in a generation talent who's a human being who has bad days.

AMANPOUR: And finally, E.A. Hanks.

HANKS: Yes.

AMANPOUR: Why?

HANKS: That comes from my days working at the "Huffington Post", where I had to navigate a comment section that did not always -- maybe you've heard of this -- not always -- people don't always love women telling them about the political situations that we're navigating.

So, I took a hat tip from George Elliot and others and --

AMANPOUR: To change your gender, so to speak.

HANKS: Yes. And there was a slightly more cynical thing where when I was starting out earlier when SEO was still part of, you know, second generation, third generation Internet, if you googled Elizabeth and Hanks, it would just be results for "Big" because it would clock Elizabeth of Elizabeth Perkins and Hanks of my dad's name.

So, if you wanted to find an article I'd written about something in -- that happened in D.C. that week, you'd have to go to like nine, you know, result pages in. E.A. Hanks was a lot easier for misogynists and Google alike.

AMANPOUR: And now, with "The 10" book.

HANKS: Exactly.

AMANPOUR: Thank you so much for being with us.

HANKS: Thank you for having me, Christiane.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[11:44:45]

AMANPOUR: And "The 10" is out now in America. Soon to be released here in the U.K.

Next up as Tibet's future hangs in the balance, from my archive, conversations with activists who wanted change there and the Dalai Lama, who urged reconciliation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DALAI LAMA, TIBETAN RELIGIOUS LEADER: They should give us meaningful autonomy so that we can keep our own sort of Buddhist culture or cultural heritage. But then our issue is you cannot solve by strong emotional feeling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:45:16]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back.

Now this week we've seen Indo-Chinese relations potentially begin a thaw as Prime Minister Modi went to China and visited with Xi. But Tibet remains a huge thorn in both their sides. And for many Buddhists, it's an existential issue with mounting urgency.

The Dalai Lama turned 90 in July, and there's a rising concern as his succession looms. The faith leader has said any search for whoever succeeds him must take place in the free world. But China insists the atheist communist party must oversee the process. In August, Xi Jinping went to Tibet for his first visit to that region

in years. Tensions have been severe ever since the Dalai Lama and his followers tried to resist Beijing's 1959 takeover, leading them to eventually flee Tibet and take refuge in neighboring India.

From my archives, my journey to that refuge in 2008, meeting the Dalai Lama and his activists in exile.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: They are Tibet's new generation of Buddhist monks sworn to nonviolence. But today, on the march, exiled in India, demanding political and religious freedom in their home country, Tibet.

TENZIN TSUNDUE, MARCH ORGANIZER (through translator): The main struggle is happening already inside Tibet by the Tibetans, and there is a new cultural resistance all over Tibet.

AMANPOUR: Activists like Tenzin Tsundue have broken from the stand of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who is willing to accept a Tibet that remains within China but runs its own affairs.

The Dalai Lama's way is called the middle way. It's about autonomy versus independence, and it's done through dialog with the Chinese. Is that sufficient?

TSUNDUE: This demand for autonomy, in a way, sometimes I think looks like wishful thinking. So therefore we are saying no on the political stand. We want independence, but on the method, a nonviolent method, there is no disagreement with his holiness.

AMANPOUR: But there is a difference between you and the Dalai Lama because he's talked about autonomy and you're talking about independence -- full square independence.

TSUNDUE: There is -- there is this difference that I see, and especially among the younger generation Tibetans who are saying no compromise on independence.

AMANPOUR: The Dalai Lama's response -- be realistic.

DALAI LAMA: They should give us meaningful autonomy so that we can keep our own sort of Buddhist culture or cultural heritage. But then our issue is we cannot solve by strong emotional feeling.

It's difficult. So we have to -- I think -- I think we have to accept the reality. How much we can do.

AMANPOUR: What Tenzin Tsundue and his fellow activists did was start what they hoped would be a five-month-long march to Tibet to press their case. But they were arrested by Indian police after just three days.

This is what the Dalai Lama would call reality. Despite the arrests, another 50 monks have stepped forward, vowing they won't stop until they reach Tibet. (END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Now that was before Xi Jinping took office. And if anything, things have got even tougher for anyone considering independence or autonomy there. And those protests were the biggest in decades.

But now fears are growing that when a new Dalai Lama is chosen, they'll once again boil over. And who knows what Xi will do.

When we come back, it's back-to-school week across the world, the haves and the have nots when it comes to the value of an education.

[11:54:03]

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AMANPOUR: And finally, for many children this week, the biggest news event is heading back to school. All over the world, traditions, celebrations and most crucially, gifts have all been given out as part of it, along with the customary scramble for stationery and uniforms.

In Germany and Austria, a cone of goodies, you know, with sweets and flowers in it known as Schultute (ph) is handed to new students, while in Japan, the randoseru bag is a first term must have. And it's expected to see them through the entire six years of primary school.

Of course, this week is also a reminder that for many children, getting an education remains out of reach. In Afghanistan, the devastating earthquake has impacted so many children. While the Taliban still forbids more than 2 million girls from attending school.

In Ukraine, children near the eastern front started this school year underground, shielding from Russian bombs. While in Sudan and Gaza, war and starvation means that millions of children are denied the basic right to go to school.

[11:59:50]

AMANPOUR: It's a painful reminder of how 272 million children right now are being robbed of an education, and therefore a future. While a more fortunate cohort, more than a billion around the world are able to enjoy that basic right and privilege.

That's all we have time for. Don't forget, you can find all our shows online as podcasts, at CNN.com/audio and on all other major platforms.

I'm Christiane Amanpour in London. Thank you for watching and I'll see you again next week.