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Biden And Putin Video Calls Just Hours Away; U.S. Will Not Send Delegation To Beijing Olympics; France To Close Nightclubs, Mandate Mask In Schools. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired December 07, 2021 - 02:00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead. We are just hours away from the critical meeting between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden. What will the leaders discuss and how could this affect the face of Ukraine? Also ahead?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe Russia will invade?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The Ukrainian Minister of Defense on his fears and what he hopes will come from the summit. It is a CNN exclusive. And nightclubs to close across France. New English travel restrictions and scientists warning that another pandemic is inevitable. New coronavirus headlines from across the globe.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN center. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. We are following two developing diplomatic moves by the U.S. this hour, beginning with a push to deescalate tensions over Ukraine. In the coming hours the presidents of the U.S. and Russia will hold high stakes talks via video call as concerns grow over Russia's military buildup on the Ukraine border. The summit comes as the Pentagon sees added military capability by Russian forces.

And U.S. intelligence obtained by CNN estimates Moscow could invade Ukraine as soon as next month. In Ukraine, President Zelensky says his country's armed forces are capable of fighting of any attack from Russia. And we're also following a U.S. diplomatic boycott. The Biden administration says it won't be sending an official delegation to the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The White House Press Secretary explained why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, UNITED STATES PRESS SECRETARY: U.S. diplomatic or official representation would treat these games as business as usual in the face of the PRCs egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang. And we simply can't do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: A live report on the U.S. diplomatic boycott just ahead. But first, we turn our attention now to Ukraine. The country's defense minister warns there will be a bloody massacre if Russia invades Ukraine. Those comments coming during an exclusive interview with CNN where he urged President Biden to stand firm against Moscow. CNN's Matthew Chance has more.

OLEKSII REZNIKOV, MINISTER OF DEFENCE OF UKRAINE: See that this is empty plates.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

REZNIKOV: And I hope that they will empty forever. Just under these guys. These are the guys who have already lost their lives. This could soon be filled.

CHANCE (voice over): This is the real threat. Ukraine now faces more soldiers dying in battles with Russia. Something that country's new defense minister appointed just a month ago tells me he's struggling with.

REZNIKOV: In Russia they will have also the same faces (INAUDIBLE) Russians will die for one.

CHANCE: Across the border, the Kremlin calls these, its regular winter drills. Ukraine says there are now about 95,000 Russian troops within striking distance. U.S. Intel indicates that will rise to 175,000. But even that the defense minister tells me is an under estimate.

REZNIKOV: One hundred seventy five, it's not enough to go to Ukraine.

CHANCE: Do you think Russia will need more?

REZNIKOV: Yes, sure.

CHANCE: How much more is unclear. But these latest satellite images from Russia suggest Moscow is now engaged in an unprecedented build up near the Ukrainian frontier enough to mount an overwhelming invasion, alarming the U.S. and NATO although Ukrainian officials seem calm at what looks like an imminent threat.

REZNIKOV: I would say that the different means that we are not in fear.

CHANCE: But you're not fearful of a Russian invasion, is that because you don't believe the intelligence?

REZNIKOV: No, no, no.

CHANCE: You don't believe Russia ?

(CROSSTALK) REZNIKOV: We believe to our Intel, we believe to all facts that was fixed by United States Intel and et cetera. But this is not the last decision.

CHANCE: Do you believe Russia will invade?

REZNIKOV: I am not believe that -- I will not believe that Russian will have a victory in Ukraine. It's a different because it will be a really bloody massacre.

[02:05:10]

REZNIKOV: And Russian guys also will come back in the core, coffins, yes.

CHANCE: There's also a belief in Ukraine that Russia which denies plans to invade can with the help of the United States and its allies still be deterred.

This is the defense minister inducting two new coastal patrol boats from the U.S. into the Ukrainian Navy. Part of a much broader military modernization program. Ukraine is trying to carry out with support from the west, angering Moscow. Ukraine's growing ties with NATO and Kremlin demands for NATO expansion to be curbed is set to dominate President Biden's video call with Vladimir Putin of Russia on Tuesday.

A crucial online meeting that could determine Ukraine's fate. The U.S. president, the defense minister tells me should double down on support for Ukraine.

REZNIKOV: If I can advise President Biden, I would like to ask him to very understandable articulate to Mr. Putin that no red lines from Kremlin side could be here. Redline is here in Ukraine and civilized world will react without any hesitation. We don't need the American or Canadian soldiers here to fighting for Ukraine. We will fight by ourselves. But we need modernization of weaponry. We have -- we need electronic warfare and et cetera, et cetera.

CHANCE: The problem with America and NATO and others stepping up their help. Their assistance for Ukraine is that it could potentially provoke the Kremlin even further. Could be poking the bear and force them to you to invade. Is that a concern for you? Do you think that's realistic?

REZNIKOV: The idea don't provoke Russia will not work. Because Georgia, Salisbury Crimea.

CHANCE: So you think confrontation with Russia is the only way to stop Russia's malign activity around the world?

REZNIKOV: It could be -- not on the confrontation, it could be their -- various -- it should be strong position. We are a partner of Ukraine. We will help them in all kinds of ways.

CHANCE: And the Kremlin will hear that and it will understand that and it will stop. REZNIKOV: I'm sure.

CHANCE: That it is a high stakes gamble with no guarantees such a hard line from the White House to the Kremlin will do anything to force Russia back. Matthew Chance CNN (INAUDIBLE) Ukraine.

CHURCH: So, let's talk more about this with Jill Dougherty. She is a Georgetown adjunct professor and is a former CNN Moscow Bureau Chief. Thank you so much for joining us.

JILL DOUGHERTY, GEORGETOWN ADJUNCT PROFESSOR: Sure.

CHURCH: So President Biden faces a new test from Russia when he takes that video call with President Putin in the coming hours over rising tensions on Russia's border with Ukraine. How potentially dangerous is a call like this, particularly with Mr. Biden threatening economic sanctions, should Russia decide to invade Ukraine?

DOUGHERTY: Well, I mean, the personal basis, you know, both men are very experienced. And President Biden has been around for a long time. He knows all the issues. President Putin has been in office for more than 20 years. So they're well aware of what they're talking about. But this is really pretty dramatic stuff. Because you're right, Rosemary, you know, the potential here is conflict, a war in Ukraine.

And a war that could spread not necessarily but could spread to other parts of Europe. So that is very dangerous. But I do think, you know, underlying this is a bigger kind of geopolitical issue of what President Putin wants. And he's very insistent, and I would say almost angry about it. And that's -- that might be the best thing to talk about here. But the drama of this moment is really quite striking.

CHURCH: Yes. And of course, we don't know Russia's president exact intent here. But we do know that he wants a written guarantee that NATO won't cross his red line by expanding eastward. But Biden has already said he doesn't accept anyone's red line. So how will this likely play do you think?

DOUGHERTY: That's really the question because, you know, you look at it, in one sense, it would be very hard for them to come to terms with what Putin wants actually impossible because Joe Biden and NATO in general are not going to give any authority or let's say any ability of Russia to define the future of Ukraine, either in NATO or out of NATO, they simply can't do that. [02:10:18]

DOUGHERTY: It's not how nature works, and also on the principle that Ukraine is an independent sovereign nation. Although President Putin has written recently, an article that was quite critical of that idea. So here we are. But I think, you know, in the long run there, I believe that President Putin wants a European security pack that goes beyond Ukraine, although Ukraine is a huge part of it.

And that would give Russia kind of what it really wanted after the end of these of the Soviet Union, which has some type of voice and influence in the neighborhood. And the neighborhood is Ukraine, Belarus, et cetera where it could define to a certain extent, what happens and make sure that NATO does not come into its territory. So, big -- no guarantee but there might be a possibility that Biden could say, we can talk about that.

But it would not just be the United States and Russia talking, it would have to include Ukraine, and it would have to include the Europeans.

CHURCH: And according to U.S. Intel, Russia could launch a military offensive in Ukraine sometime in January, or perhaps later, as it messes up to 175,000 troops. It's about close to 100,000 right now on the border. Ukraine has said that that will be a bloody conflict that you've studied Putin for a very long time now. What would likely happen if this were his intent to go in invade?

DOUGHERTY: Oh, I think it really would be a very bloody both for both sides. You know, Ukraine is not the weak military that was a few years ago, let's say in 2014. And Russia is well-equipped to try to carry out a military operation in Ukraine. But Ukrainians I think would stand their ground as much as they could. So it could be really devastating for the civilians in that area, and very bloody for both sides.

That said, nobody knows whether it will come to that, you know, we do have this question of sanctions. And the United States is calling them potentially high impact sanctions. Things that they haven't done before that they argue would be very detrimental to Russia. And that's really kind of the leverage that President Biden hopes to have over Putin, that he will make -- the picture of what would happen if there were an invasion so bad that President Putin would be dissuaded not to do it.

CHURCH: All right. Thanks to you, Jill Dougherty for joining us and for your analysis. Appreciate it. Well, just over 59 days until the kickoff the Beijing Winter Olympics and news of the U.S. diplomatic boycott has Beijing vowing "Resolute counter measures over what Chinese officials call a political farce." Regardless of who's there, China says the games will be a success. And CNN's Ivan Watson joins me with the latest.

Ivan, what are these countermeasures that China's suggests and talk to us to about to the latest on the fallout from this diplomatic boycott from the U.S.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, we still don't know what those countermeasures would be. So I guess stay tuned. The announcement coming from the White House, from the White House spokesperson who conceded that she herself is Olympics obsessed. The White House had been kind of signaling that this decision would come for some days. Again, take a listen to Jen Psaki's announcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PSAKI: Not sending a U.S. delegation, sends a clear message that we cannot conduct ourselves with business as usual, that we are not in a state where business as usual is appropriate at a time where there are human rights abuses that we have been outspoken about that we have taken actions on. And we feel this sends a clear message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: So the Biden administration has been couching this as being prompted by allegations of human rights abuses in China. And they've singled out the Xinjiang region where they accused China of committing a genocide against Muslim ethnic minorities charges that Beijing vociferously denies. Now as the Biden administration has been signaling that this could be coming, Beijing has been responding in kind.

So here's what the Chinese Foreign Ministry had to say before the announcement was even official out of Washington.

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[02:15:08]

ZHAO LIJIAN, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSONT (through translator): U.S. politics continue to hype diplomatic boycotts at the Beijing Winter Olympics. They are completely wishful thinking, grandstanding and politically manipulative. This is a serious defilement to the spirit of the Olympic Charter, a pure political provocation and a serious offense 1.4 billion Chinese people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: And we're likely rosemary to hear more criticism coming from the foreign ministry as it's about to hold its regular briefing. In a short time, we've had statements coming from the Chinese ambassador to the U.N. accusing the U.S. of a cold war mentality and calling this diplomatic boycott a self-directed political force. The International Olympic Committee has put out a statement reasserting its political neutrality and saying a decision like this coming from Washington is a purely political decision.

Of course, the IOC working very closely with the Chinese government to host these upcoming Winter Olympics. A final note here, I think, is look at the dramatic difference between the upcoming Winter Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. In that case, then U.S. President George Bush, George W. Bush attended the games enthusiastically with his first lady, Laura Bush.

And even his father, the former president George H.W. Bush was the honorary captain of the U.S. Olympic team. This time around, there won't be a single U.S. government official participating, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Ivan Watson joining us live from Hong Kong many thanks for that. And still to come, details of the new restrictions going into place in France as the country struggles with a fifth COVID wave.

Plus, not just probable but a promise. One scientist is warning that another pandemic is inevitable and it could be even worse than COVID- 19.

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CHURCH: So let's get you up to speed with the latest on the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. In South Africa, new data reveals the COVID positivity rate has jumped by 24 percent since the variant was detected there two weeks ago. Meantime the U.K. is tightening travel restrictions to curb the spread of the variant. Now all inbound travelers must take a pre-departure COVID test regardless of their vaccination status.

And this comes as England reports community transmission of the Omicron variant. And France is planning to close all nightclubs for four weeks starting Friday as officials say the country is now in the grip of a fifth COVID wave. And CNN is covering this story from all angles.

[02:20:07]

CHURCH: Melissa Bell is live from Paris. And Eleni Giokos is in Athens, Greece. So good to see you both. So let's begin with CNN's Melissa Bell in Paris. And Melissa, France, closing nightclubs and mandating mosques in schools. What is the latest on these new restrictions and of course, the rising infections that triggered this?

MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. What we've seen, Rosemary, over the course of the last few weeks is a steady rise in the number of new daily cases, figures of above 50,000 new cases in 24-hour periods. For instance, is something that we've seen a couple of times, these last couple of weeks. And of course, what that means and French authorities had been warning about this for some time, is that if things are left unchecked, if things continued as they were, then by the end of January, you would see the ICU is here in France being overrun once again by COVID-19 patients.

This is a fifth wave, say French authorities that is even steeper than the ones we've seen before. And bear in mind that this is just the Delta variant that we're talking about, as you mentioned a moment ago, Omicron now firmly rooted inside Europe with community transmission here in France as well, even though the number of cases remains for the time being extremely small, but it is that Delta variant driven fifth wave that the authorities are worried about.

And yet when we heard from the French Prime Minister last night and the health minister, they're trying to avoid drastic measures, they want Christmas to be able to go ahead pretty much as usual, as best as can be. So all live analysis that night clubs will be closed for a month from Friday, fresh measures in school to try and keep children apart and prevent school based transmissions and also opening up vaccination to children who are between five and 12.

Because as they reminded us, it is also amongst the young that we're seeing a great amount of transmission of this Delta variant. Will it be enough to keep the numbers under control? We're going to have to wait and see about that. But for the time being, what they believe are small measures that they hope will try and bring this extraordinary surge that we've seen in here in France over the last few days and weeks are under control, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Melissa Bell, many thanks joining us live from Paris. Next, let's go to Eleni Giokos who joins us live from Athens. Eleni, good to see you. So you are in a government designated quarantine hotel there in Athens having left South Africa. How difficult was that whole journey leaving a country that was hit by the travel bans?

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Look, if you're on the red list, and you're an African and you don't have a second passport, or residency in a country that wants to take you back simply put you are stuck. There are very few options for you to get out over (INAUDIBLE) operate this country. And it was traumatizing. It was stressful. And we recently saw rules changing.

So we had flights that were canceled and then we had to make alternative arrangements. And because it was just the situation was so fluid it made it extremely difficult. When we went to the check-in counter and we handed in our E.U. passports I'm with my husband and my four-year-old daughter. The woman at the check-in counter said to me that that is gold, that my E.U. passport is exactly what got me out.

And she couldn't keep up with handing out tissues to people that were turned away since the travel bans were puts in place in South Africa. When I arrived at O.R. Tambo international and Rosemary, I travel so often, I have never seen that kind of atmosphere where, you know, everyone in that queue, that very long queue was stressed, was anxious and had worked very hard to try and find a way out and some people have to leave for work.

Others are trying to get back to family. But it was -- it was something completely surreal for me and my family as well.

CHURCH: Yes, that is a nightmare scenario. And just looking at those images there. So what is the quarantine experience like in Europe compared to what you experienced in South Africa? Because of course that you were stranded there as well when you went there and what is your message to others who are traveling?

GIOKOS: Well, in South Africa in general, I have to just say a few things on hygiene. You know, when we went through security, we saw a woman sanitizing every single one of those baskets, which we know are actually quite dirty. When we went to Charles de Gaulle in Paris. We weren't even given an answer when we asked if the woman had changed her gloves when she went through our bags.

In South Africa a family I was able to be quite comfortable. When I now arrived in Greece, the Greek government were extremely helpful and by the way, the Greek government is paying for the entire 10-day quarantine juxtaposing that against the U.K. quarantine rules where one person has to pay 2200 pounds for 10-day quarantine which means that it makes it a very expensive exercise if you're a tourist that is not stranded in South Africa trying to get back home.

The rules, Rosemary, make it very hard for people to try and leave. You've got to pay for tests, you have to try and figure out where the quarantine will be, what it will be like right now.

[02:25:07]

GIOKOS: We're sitting in a 35-square meter hotel room, and there's three of us for 10 days, it is going to be tough. And these decisions to try and leave a red list country don't come likely. Because you know that at every point, you're going to be, you know, checked and double checked for COVID. Another big thing is that African leaders have been absolutely vocal about the fact that African countries have been singled out during this pandemic.

And if you see how many countries have identified the Omicron variant and the fact that most of the African countries are on red list, making it difficult for Africans to leave, that is why you see many people saying it's discriminatory and even the likes of the U.N. calling it travel apartheid. So, I think as we discover more about Omicron, it will be interesting to see how these travel bans are going to be treated, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes. You're absolutely right. Eleni Giokos, well done on a tough journey there. Many thanks for your report. Appreciate it. Well, as countries continue to grapple with COVID-19, scientists are already turning their attention to the next pandemic. One of the co-creators of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine says the threat could be even worse, and the world needs to prepare now. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH GILBERT, PROFESSOR OF VACCINOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD: There will be a Disease Y. This will not be the last time a virus threatens our lives and our livelihoods. And I'd like to finish on a high note. But the truth is the next one could be worse. It could be more contagious, or more lethal, or both. We cannot allow a situation where we have gone through all we have gone through.

And then find that the enormous economic losses we have sustained mean that there is still no funding for pandemic preparedness. The advances we have made and the knowledge we have gained must not be lost.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Sterghios Moschos is an associate professor of Molecular Virology at Northumbria University. He joins us now from Newcastle, England. Thank you so much for being with us.

STERGHIOS MOSCHOS, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MOLECULAR VIROLOGY, NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY: Good morning, and thank you for having me.

CHURCH: So of course we heard there, it is a -- it's daunting to think that we're not even out of this pandemic. And now one of AstraZeneca's co-creators is suggesting the next pandemic could be even worse, and we need to prepare for it. Do you agree with that prediction? And what do we need to be doing now to be ready for the next pandemic?

MOSCHOS: Yes, I certainly agree with this prediction. And we only need to cast our minds back in the last five years. How many near misses we had. In the past five years, we've seen three separate substantial cases of Ebola outbreaks, including the 2015 West Africa pandemic, which basically had us all pretty scared about getting a hemorrhagic fever reaching our communities and our societies and our economies.

We had the Zika virus pandemic, effectively that stemmed out of what we observed in Brazil. And we've now had to deal with coronavirus which is actually being taken seriously. And actually has had tremendous damage to the global economy. The reality is that in the modern society, these are no longer once in a century events because the way that we interact with each other, the frequency of travel, the density of the population is literally orders of magnitude.

So that tens of hundreds to thousands of times bigger than it used to be a hundred or 200 years ago. And as a consequence of that the frequency of the events that allow for these diseases to spring up, reach people, transmitted between people and grow on a global scale is actually much higher. So, to prepare for the next thing, we need to do two major things. Number one, we need to keep our eyes open in every country but especially so in developing nations for the new diseases that will spring out of the wildlife.

It's that interface between the wildlife and the humans that allows for the transmission events to happen. We see this in countries where wildlife is the source of protein because simply put -- people don't have the source of meat that they would need otherwise. And number two, we need to have the capacity to respond quickly with new vaccination programs with a sobriety to understand that we were extremely lucky with what happened with coronavirus and Ebola.

We have HIV for how many decades now since the 80s. And we still haven't got a vaccine for it, that is efficacious. That needs to be a sobering fault. We have hepatitis diseases, viral diseases that we haven't got vaccines for. Yes, we can aspire for vaccines that work for many different viruses but we don't have them.

CHURCH: Right. And the problem too though with this current situation is we have all the tools at our disposal right now for this current COVID pandemic.

[02:30:00]

The various treatments and new COVID pills on the way. But we're not using all of these tools to their fullestextent. Everyone should be getting their third shot, their booster shot, but that's not happening. Even in some countries where there are sufficient supplies to allow that to happen.

STERGHIOS MOSCHOS, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MOLECULAR VIROLOGY, NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY: So what needs to be done about that? Because there's a lot of people who are anti-vaccine right now, right across the globe, and cannot be convinced that this is the way to go. What will happen to that population across the globe?

Currently they will become ill and then they will not be able to recover by a vaccine to be protected. Their families will suffer, they will suffer, many of them will die, many of them will lose quality of life because they will get long COVID and will learn the hard way what we've known as scientist in over 100 years about the efficacy of vaccination.

But I will think this, to be arguing about third doses in the developed nations is extremely selfish and shortsighted. And if coronavirus taught us something is that calls from people like myself over the last six months to a year that we need to be vaccinating the developing nations because that's where the next variants will come up front, have been verified.

Delta arose in India. Omicron arose in Africa. Both of these areas at the time that we have the variants appear didn't have sufficient vaccination. So please, for the love of God, we need to vaccinate the world if we want to get out of this. And we need to maintain those measures that prevent transmission within our communities so that our health care systems are not overwhelmed, and so that people who have things like cancers can be treated for their other diseases.

We need to stop being selfish and let's stop looking about the rest of society and the rest of the planet as well. Because at the end of the day if the rest of the planet grows ill, we will grow ill as well. It's not just about the America or Europe or the United Kingdom anymore. We are a globalized planet.

CHURCH: Right. I think in America there's around 20 percent of Americans have had their third shots, so it's pretty low here anyhow.

Sterghios Moschos, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate you.

MOSCHOS: You're very welcome.

CHURCH: Well, the International Olympic Committee is getting ready to hold a series of news conferences. Why they'll likely be facing some tough questions about the fate of Peng Shuai. And this.

A protest in Myanmar after a prison sentence against Aung San Suu Kyi. What we're learning about a possible pardon from the country's military rulers.

Back with that and more in just a moment.

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[02:35:17]

CHURCH: Tensions are amounting between the U.S. and its two most powerful foreign adversaries. In the coming hours Presidential Joe Biden will hold a video call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and is expected to warn of severe sanctions for any invasion of Ukraine. Russia has been amassing troops along the countries' shared border.

And on Monday, the White House announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The symbolic move is made to call out China's human rights abuses. China calls the boycott a political fast, and warns it will take resolute countermeasures. Well, also straining China's relations with the West concerned about

the well-being of Peng Shuai. The International Olympic Committee will hold a series of meetings and news conferences today, and will likely get grilled about the fate of the Chinese tennis star. The IOC has been accused of collaborating with the Chinese government in an effort to convince the world she's OK.

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three-time Olympian, two-time Grand Slam champion, and the first Chinese tennis player male or female to achieve world number one in doubles. After reaching the top of world tennis Peng Shuai is rattling the very top of the Communist Party. One month ago she accused a powerful man, former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of forcing her to have sex.

(On-camera): Peng made the accusation on her verified Sina Weibo social media account. In a more than 1600-word post she wrote, "I know that for someone of your eminence, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, that you said you are not afraid. But even if it's just me, like an egg hitting a stone, a moth flying into flames, courting self-destruction, I will tell the truth about us." Within 30 minutes, this was taken down.

LETA HONG FINCHER, AUTHOR, "BETRAYING BIG BROTHER: THE FEMINIST AWAKENING IN CHINA": That kind of censorship of enemy to post is very common.

LU STOUT: (voice-over): CNN cannot verify the authenticity of the post. Peng is unreachable, as is the 75-year-old former party leader. She remains under blankets censorship in China where there is no reporting of her allegation. Even the senior state media journalist trying to argue on a Twitter post that Peng is fine won't say it out loud.

(On-camera): Why is Beijing afraid of addressing this sexual assault allegation?

DANA IMPIOMBATO, ICPC RESEARCHER, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE: The Me Too Movement is very monitored in China, and the reason is that it is seen as a threat to the authority of the Chinese Communist Party, to its moral standing. But also to all of those patriarchal structures that are so imbedded in the system.

LU STOUT (voice-over): In recent years Beijing has cracked down on China's feminist movement. In 2015 five feminists were detained over their campaign for gender equality. After international outcry they were released. Earlier this year a friend of Me Too activist Huang Xueqin tells CNN Huang was arrested on September 19th. She remains detained.

And now, Me Too has reached the party elite. After Peng Shuai was not seen in public for two weeks, state media attempted to show she is safe. It only added to the wave of concern. FINCHER: I do believe that Beijing is actually susceptible to enormous

international pressure, and we have this convergence of outrage coming from sports celebrities outside China. We have the Olympics coming up.

LU STOUT: The Women's Tennis Association, the United Nations and the E.U. have called for a full investigation into her allegations.

One month ago, Peng wrote, "Why did you have to come back to me, took me to your home to force me to have sex with you? I couldn't describe how disgusted I was and how many times I asked myself, am I still a human? I feel like a walking corpse."

Since she posted that explosive allegation, Peng has posed with a cat, nodded at a dinner table in a carefully edited video, and smiled to the camera during a video call with the IOC. The one-time fighter on the court has yet to speak out in her own words directly to the public.

Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And CNN has yet to receive a response from the State Council Information Office. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs declines to comment as, in their words, this is not a diplomatic incident.

Protesters took to the streets of Myanmar's largest city on Monday, denouncing a verdict against the country's ousted civilian leader. Aang Suu Kyi was initially sentenced to four years in prison by a military backed court on charges of inciting dissent and breaching COVID rules.

[02:40:06]

But according to state media that sentence has been reduced to two years by the military leader. Suu Kyi still faces 10 more criminal charges including corruption which could amount to decades more in prison. The trial against her has been called a sham by many including the U.N. Human Rights chief.

Decking the halls, not with holly but with hundreds of Christmas trees. Coming up, one German couples' record-setting decorations.

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CHURCH: This is Milan, Italy, where the city celebrated its annual tradition of lighting a large Christmas tree in the Piazza del Duomo. This year's tree has 80,000 LED lights along with hundreds of red and silver Christmas balls and dozens of bows. Once the holiday season is over, wood from the tree will be repurposed, and 10 new trees will be planted to replace this one.

Well, when it comes to yuletide decorating for one German couple, more is more. They are the German world record holders for having the most decorated Christmas trees in one place. A total of 444. No two trees are the same and themes include stormtroopers and superheroes. More than 10,000 Christmas balls and 300 strings of light are used in the display. The couples start putting the trees up months ahead of time to have them ready for the first Sunday in December. Beautiful.

And thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back in about 15 minutes with more news. "WORLD SPORT" is coming up next.

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[02:45:36]

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