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Twenty Palestinians Killed in Airstrikes by IDF; ICJ to Rule on Israel's Genocide Case; Russia Accuse Ukraine of Killing POWs in Plane; Ukraine Holding Off Russian Meat Wave in Avdiivka; Boris Nadezhdin Getting Support Being Anti-War; Trump Gives Brief Testimony in Defamation Trial'; Rise of Anti-Semitic Hate in Chinese Social Media; Tuvalu Elections Monitored By China, Taiwan And U.S.; Miss Japan Winner Sparks Controversy. Aired 2-2:45a ET
Aired January 26, 2024 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[02:00:00]
ANNA COREN, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Anna Coren live from Hong Kong. Just ahead, the International Court of Justice is set to deliver an initial ruling in the genocide case against Israel.
On the front lines in Ukraine, we take you to a secret underground command center for Ukrainian forces who are trying to keep a crucial town out of Russian hands.
And the winner of Japan's oldest beauty contest reignites debate about what it means to be Japanese.
It's 9:00 a.m. in Gaza City where authorities say they expect the death toll to rise after another attack has claimed the lives of civilians. The Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry reports at least 20 people were killed, as many as 150 injured when Israeli forces fired on people lining up for food.
CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment. The attack is just the latest in an especially bloody day in Gaza where the Health Ministry reports at least 200 people were killed. The Director-General of the World Health Organization choked up while talking about the situation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: If we look for a solution, it's always possible. It's only the will that's required. And I'm a true believer because of my own experience that war doesn't bring solution, except more war, more hatred, more agony, more destruction. So, let's choose peace and resolve this issue politically. I'm struggling to speak because -- because the situation is beyond words.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COREN: Well, meanwhile in the Netherlands, the International Court of Justice is set to deliver its initial ruling in a genocide case against Israel. Let's get more on that from journalist Elliott Gotkine live from London. Elliott walks us through the implications of the expected ruling by the International Court of Justice later today.
ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Anna, as you say this is just an interim ruling and what it can do is impose provisional measures on Israel if it finds that Israel has a case to answer. Now these provisional measures equate to a kind of restraining order, but one that Israel would undoubtedly ignore if it indeed comes to pass.
Now South Africa, in this case, which it has brought with the support of a number of other countries is claiming that Israel's grounds and air assaults were designed to bring about the destruction of the Palestinian people. And it's also cited as evidence some of the more outlandish comments of some of the far-right ministers in Prime Minister Netanyahu's government.
Israel, for its part, has dismissed these charges. It has said that they are an absurd blood libel and it is vigorously defended its position saying that it takes great care to avoid civilian casualties when carrying out this war against Hamas, which of course provoked it on October the 7th with that massacre. So, this will just be an interim ruling, as I say.
If it goes against Israel, they will ignore it, although it could lead to additional international pressure against Israel. Although it's worth noting that other allies of Israel, such as the United States, such as the United Kingdom, have also said that these charges of genocide against Israel are baseless as well.
Now, if it goes Israel's way, of course, then Israel will feel vindicated. The other thing to note is that although Israel is a party to the Geneva Convention on Genocide, Hamas, which is not a state, is not. So, although Israel and many others would say that Hamas's attack on October the 7th equated to a kind of genocide, Hamas is not in the dock because it's not a state and therefore is not a party to this convention and therefore interim measures against Hamas cannot be made.
[02:05:06]
And so, you could effectively find a scenario where one party to a war is being told to stop fighting and the other one isn't. Anna?
COREN: Elliott Gotkine in London, thank you. Well, now to that deadly attack on Palestinians queuing for food in Gaza City. CNN's Ben Wedeman has details and a warning, his report contains graphic video.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Once again, the wounded are sprawled on the floor of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Victims of what a civil defense official says was Israeli tank and machine gun fire on a crowd of people waiting to receive desperately needed humanitarian aid.
People were going to get food and flour because they have nothing to eat, he says. Then suddenly tanks appeared and started firing shells at people. Mohammed Al-Rifi was injured in the hand and leg. They shelled us four times, he says.
Wednesday at the same spot at the Kuwait Circle (ph) in Gaza City's southern outskirts, there were scenes of panic when, according to eyewitnesses, Israeli forces opened fire during the distribution of aid. CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment, but has not yet received a response.
To the south, thousands are streaming (sp?) out of Khan Younis where intense fighting has been raging for days, moving however they can, traumatized by what they've seen and what they've lost. This is the third time we've moved, she says, all they have left in the world piled onto a shopping cart.
This is as far as you can get safely from Khan Younis. Between a sea of tents and the sea, some supplies are available. Close to 90 percent of the people of Gaza are now displaced, many now living like this. Winter rains have turned parts of this makeshift camp into a muddy pond. I'm looking for our things, he says. What they have found is anger at the men who pose as their leaders.
Look Ismail Haniyeh (ph), let him see us, shouts this man, referring to Hamas's political leader living in Qatar. The war has raged now for more than 110 days. For three and a half months we've been on the run, says Iyad Abu Wasaid (ph). Let us go back to our homes, we're sick of this life. Death would be better. According to the forecast, another winter storm is coming. Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Beirut.
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COREN: Ukraine is pouring cold water on Moscow's claim that Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in a plane that went down in western Russia. Moscow claims a Ukrainian missile shot down the plane in Belgorod region on Wednesday, reportedly killing 65 Ukrainians headed for a prisoner swap plus nine Russian service members.
But Ukraine's intelligence now suggests only five bodies from the crash site have been brought to a local morgue. That number, according to Ukraine, matches the size of the crew on the plane, which Kyiv says was transporting missiles, not POWs. Russian videos from the scene, including this one, do not appear to show massive casualties. But Russian investigators still said on Thursday their preliminary probe showed the jet was attacked by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile.
Well, Ukraine is fighting a grinding battle to hold onto the town of Avdiivka where Russia is using tactics described as a meat assault, sending wave after wave of soldiers to attack Ukrainian positions regardless of losses. Well, CNN's Fred Pleitgen got access to the heart of Ukraine's operations there. A warning, some of the images you're about to see are graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): A US-provided Bradley infantry fighting vehicle almost single-handedly
stopping a Russian assault near Avdiivka in southeastern Ukraine, pelting the Russians with tracer rounds from its powerful 25mm gun. Vladimir Putin's troops pinned down unable to advance. This is just one element of Ukraine's efforts to hold Avdiivka run from underground command centers in secret locations.
(On camera): The Ukrainians have given us access to their command bunker for this part of the frontline. From here they organized part of the defense of Avdiivka.
(Voice-over): It's rarely calm here, they say, the Russians assaulting nearly all the time.
[02:10:00]
A Russian tank with a small group of troops shows up. The Ukrainians track their movements. And these two soldiers, probably from an already decimated unit, cowering in a trench, aware the Ukrainians have spotted them. They hit the Russians with a kamikaze drone --
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But they survive for now. The commander tells me Russian losses here are staggering. They use a lot of equipment. We destroy a lot of equipment, he says. A lot of infantry assaults. They expend people. They step over each other. Don't provide assistance. It's true. There's a lot of infantry, equipment, and meat assaults.
From the many drones monitoring the battlefield, we see the bodies of dead Russian soldiers frozen amidst their destroyed vehicles. The command post also directs artillery and rocket strikes, and even counter-assaults with ground forces to clear trenches and stop the seemingly endless waves of Russian infantry attacks.
Fortunately, they have a lot of losses, he says, yet they do not stop, but Avdiivka will be ours. They will not succeed. But Ukraine's American-provided guns could go mostly silent soon if Congress doesn't end its impasse and pass additional military aid, President Biden says.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think the vast majority of members of Congress support aid to Ukraine. The question is whether or not a small minority are going to hold it up, which would be a disaster.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): And that could have major effects for the Ukrainian troops fighting here. Fred Pleitgen, CNN in eastern Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: A number of Ukraine's state agencies are fighting their own battles with the latest round of cyber-attacks disrupting their communications. Ukrainian cyber officials saying investigation is underway after it appears a prominent data center the agencies relied on was targeted.
Ukraine's largest oil and gas company says its website and call centers were knocked offline while the country's national postal service and transportation safety agency reported technical failures as well. It's unclear who is responsible for the attacks.
Well, voters in Russia are braving the country's legendary winter to ensure an anti-war presidential candidate has enough signatures to take on Vladimir Putin in the election in March. CNN's Clare Sebastian has more on this peaceful defiance and the man inspiring it.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Under heavy snowfall and amid the chill of ever tighter limits on freedom of speech, this is a rare spark of Russian public opposition to Vladimir Putin, patiently lining up to try to get an anti-war candidate on the ballot in upcoming presidential elections.
This is the only candidate that wants to stop the military action on someone else's territory, says Anatoly (ph). For some, it goes even deeper than the war. I feel that my rights may be infringed says Nasha (ph). I don't feel safe sometimes. The candidate is Boris Nadezhdin, a 60-year-old physicist, former MP and adviser to the late opposition leader Boris Nemtsov.
His manifesto describes the so-called special military operation in Ukraine as a fatal mistake, pledging to immediately start peace talks if elected.
(On camera): People have been arrested and sent to prison in Russia for a lot less than that. Why are you getting away with this?
BORIS NADEZHDIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know. I don't know exactly why I'm not arrested. I know Putin very well from the 90s, even when he was not a president. He was a normal Russian bureaucrat and I was a normal Russian bureaucrat.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Supporters have been lining up not just in Moscow, but outside Nadezhdin's campaign headquarters in dozens of cities across Russia and even abroad. He has united the old guard of the Russian opposition, including key allies of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, his wife Yulia, adding her signature on Wednesday, and exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. He's now racing to collect the required 100,000 signatures with strict regional quotas by the end of January.
(On camera): People are saying that there is either -- there's a deal perhaps with the Kremlin to allow your campaign to go ahead to create the illusion of a real democracy or that they are using this as a way to distract the anti-Putin electorate. What do you say to those theories?
NADEZHDIN: I am absolutely sure the situation will change because a lot of people now in Russia which started to see me in YouTube, in TV, in Telegram, they begin to believe me.
SEBASTIAN: In the Moscow queue, Ivan (ph) tells us he doesn't care if Nadezhdin is a Kremlin fan or not.
[02:15:02]
UNKNOWN (through translation): I am prepared even for the candidate to be, as we say here, a representative of one of the Kremlin towers. For me, the most important thing is that military action should stop.
SEBASTIAN (on camera): If President Putin is re-elected for a fifth term, what will you do?
NADEZHDIN: I'm absolutely sure that even if Putin will win in this election, the next presidential election will be much closer than six years. I'm absolutely sure. And I will proceed with my job.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): He believes he is already succeeding at one job, exposing the fragility of public support for Putin's war. Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.
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COREN: There's much more to come here on CNN, including a look at Donald Trump's brief time on the stand in the damages trial for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll. Stay with us.
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COREN: U.S. investors are awaiting the latest inflation figures due out in the coming hours. They're hoping for good news after key American stock markets hit record highs on Thursday. The Dow rose 0.6 of a percentage point, the Nasdaq added almost two-tenths of a percentage point, and the S&P gained more than half a percentage point.
Well, let's take a look at trading here in Asia, which is wrapping up for the day. As you can see, the Nikkei and Hong Kong Heng Seng is down. The Seoul KOSPI and Shanghai Composite is up slightly.
Well, closing arguments will get underway just a few hours from now in the trial to determine the amount Donald Trump will pay in damages for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll. The former president took the stand very briefly on Thursday. CNN's Paula Reid has the story.
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PAULA REID, CNN COIRRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former President Donald Trump brought his 2024 campaign to a New York courtroom, briefly taking the stand in the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial against him. After days of speculation about whether he would take the stand, Trump answered questions from lawyers for about three minutes.
Judge Lewis Kaplan and Trump's lawyer Alina Habba spent more time discussing what Trump would be allowed to say than he spent on the stand. Habba said she would only ask her client three questions, and after Trump was sworn in, they largely stuck to that plan. Habba asked, "Do you stand by your testimony in the deposition?" Trump replied, "100 percent, yes." Then she asked, "Did you deny the allegation because Ms. Carroll made an accusation?" Trump responded, "That's exactly right. Yes, I did. She said something that I considered a false accusation -- totally false."
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But the judge, kept strictly to the plan, cut Trump off, saying, everything after yes, I did is stricken, which means the jury cannot consider it. Habba's final question was, "Did you ever instruct anyone to hurt Ms. Carrol in your statements? Trump said, "No, I just wanted to defend myself, my family, and frankly, the presidency."
Then, Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, was allowed to cross-examine Trump. She asked, "Is this the first trial with Carroll that he has attended?" Trump replied, "Yes." Her question, a reference to the fact that Trump never attended the spring 2023 trial where a jury considered Carroll's claim that Trump raped her in a department store in the 1990s. The jury found him liable for sexual abuse.
The current trial deals with 2019 statements Trump made about Carole after she wrote her story in "New York Magazine." She is seeking $10 million in damages, and candidate Trump has attended much of these proceedings.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: This whole thing is rigged, election interference.
REID (voice-over): Often using the trial to frame himself as a victim, even though most of the controversy in this case stems from Trump and his lawyer refusing to follow courtroom rules that apply to everyone else.
TRUMP: They should be thrown out and I frankly am the one that suffered damages. I should be given money, given damages.
REID (on camera): Both sides will present their closing arguments, then the jury will get its instructions. The judge says he expects the jury to have the case around lunchtime, which means we could get an answer on how much Trump will owe E. Jean Carroll before the weekend. And though Trump says he'd rather be on the campaign trail, he is expected to voluntarily be here again. Paula Reid, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: For the first time, a U.S. death row inmate has been executed with nitrogen gas. Kenneth Smith was pronounced dead several hours ago in Alabama. He was convicted for his role in a 1988 murder for hire and already survived a botched attempt at lethal injection. Only two other U.S. states allowed death by nitrogen hypoxia.
And there have been questions over whether it constitutes cruelty. Higher courts denied all 11th hour appeals to halt the execution. Smith's spiritual advisor witnessed the death and called it absolutely horrific. But the family of the woman Smith killed said his debt has been paid.
Well, up next, all eyes are on the tiny Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu, but China, Taiwan, the U.S. and Australia are closely watching its election.
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COREN: International Holocaust Remembrance Day is on Saturday, but a disturbing trend is gripping Chinese social media. Anti-Semitism is surging across China's internet despite the country's heavy censorship practices. CNN's Will Ripley has more on this troubling movement and how it may be an effort by China to undermine the U.S.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the Israel-Hamas war rages, a battleground of opinions on China's tightly controlled social media. A surge of online hate, very anti- Israel and in many cases anti-Semitic, the Israeli embassy in Beijing says. Matt Trusch is a Jewish American businessman living in China with thousands of followers on social media.
MATT TRUSCH, JEWISH-AMERICAN BUSINESSMAN IN CHINA: For centuries, China has been the biggest friend of the Jews. And until recently, that's now all changed.
RIPLEY (voice-over): CNN uncovered a hornet's nest of hateful content, surging after October 7th. Criticizing Israel's military response in Gaza to the Hamas terror attacks. Some remain untouched by China's usually heavy-handed online censors.
TRUSCH: For a person like me, a Westerner to post on China's TikTok, highly censored TikTok, I have to be very, very careful. And yet these Chinese bloggers, these hate bloggers seem to have free rein.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Some online users combining the Israeli flag and Nazi symbols. Posted by netizens, the German embassy in China says the images are, quote, "degrading to human dignity" and calls the posters, ignorant idiots or shameless bastards. Some people buying Israeli flags on Taobao, China's online shopping platform, just to step on them and post the pictures online.
Even the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, a longtime symbol of Chinese Jewish history, facing a flood of social comments demanding its demolition. Adding fuel to the online firestorm, some state media outlets accusing Israel of committing war crimes. Beijing has not condemned Hamas, but has called for Israel to stop its, quote, "collective punishment" in Gaza.
Experts even suggesting China may be using anti-Jewish hate as a weapon against Washington, Israel's biggest backer.
YAQUI WANG, RESEARCH DIRECTOR FOR CHINA, HONG KONG AND TAIWAN FREEDOM HOUSE: It helps facilitate to the Chinese governments foreign policy agenda, which ultimately is to see the U.S. as the enemy trying to undermine China.
RIPLEY (voice-over): She says recent statements by China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi suggest an ulterior motive. WANG YI, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER (through translation): We have
always firmly defended the legitimate rights and interests of Arab and Muslim countries.
RIPLEY (voice-over): A deliberate diplomatic strategy influencing how Chinese citizens perceive the Israel-Hamas conflict.
(On camera): One thing we know about Chinese social media platforms, they are very tightly controlled. Content even deemed as marginally sensitive to the Chinese Communist Party often gets censored. So here, this relative lack of censorship around this anti-Semitic hate-filled content, it does raise the question of whether this is at least being tacitly supported by the Chinese government. And of course, that is raising a whole lot of concern amongst the Jewish community inside China that this is a new reality they have to confront. Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Now to the tiny Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu that's been holding its national election, a contest that's being closely monitored by global and regional powers. The remote island country has a population of just over 11,000 spread across nine islands. But despite its size, Tuvalu has found itself being courted by China and the United States as the global powers compete for influence in the Pacific region.
The election has also caught the attention of Taiwan. Tuvalu is one of just 12 countries that have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, as several have recently switched their ties to China. And some suggest Tuvalu could be next.
Well, joining me now from Canberra, Australia is Meg Keen, the Director of the Pacific Islands Program at the Lowy Institute and is well-versed in regional security policy and resilience throughout the Pacific region.
[02:30:07]
Great to have you with us, Meg.
As we say, the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu with its 11,000 residents I think would seldom make headlines. And yet today's elections could see the country switched its allegiance from Taiwan to China with significant implications. Explain to us what's at stake.
MEG KEAN, DIRECTOR, PACIFIC ISLANDS PROGRAM, LOWY INSTITUTE: Well, lots at stake and it depends which side of the debate you're on. China would obviously greatly love to win one more nation. Ultimately, they would like all nations to recognize them and they have been incredibly successful in the Pacific. Since 2019, three countries had switched from Taiwan to China. So, they're very eager to get Tuvalu.
Taiwan would be very disappointed to lose Tuvalu, particularly as it has 45 years of relationships with it. It's -- Tuvalu is recognized since its independence in 1979. So that's the geopolitical battle between Taiwan and China, then, of course, you have the West looking on -- not so much about recognition. Most countries in the world recognized China, what they're very worried about is if Tuvalu should shift, and that is not a foregone conclusion.
But if it should shift, what are the implications for the way in which China may be able to engage with MPs, influence international voting, possibly get access to telecommunications or those very lucrative and large maritime zones as part of its economic exclusion zones that have important sea lanes that go through them.
So, quite a bit at stake, different things for different parties.
COREN: Well, earlier this month, Meg, make nearby Nauru dumped ties with Taiwan for China. There's no doubt huge financial incentives for these small Pacific nations that -- that are extremely poor.
KEAN: Absolutely. And that is what's going to influence the decision- making. And indeed one of the three front runners in the Tuvalu election has said, he really wants to have an opportunity to review the offers on the table and think what's best for his country in the nation?
We know in the past these deals are very secretive, so we hardly, we don't get the detail. We know in the past that China has often hundred, offered hundreds of millions of dollars to build artificial islands to Tuvalu. Obviously, an exchange for recognition, they decline that.
But in a place like Solomon Islands, again, it was hundreds of millions in aid that was the reward for a change of recognition
COREN: Potential switch will no doubt upset neighboring Australia, which has made no secret of the fact that it along with the United States sees China as a growing threat to the region. Would you agree with that?
KEAN: Well, they don't want this switch, but they would not stand in its way. And Foreign Minister Wang has been very clear that Tuvalu a sovereign country, it will have its right to choose Taiwan or China. More of concern to both countries is what follows, and that this decision does not in any way unbalanced the security of the region or the long-standing relationships within it.
COREN: Well, let's talk a little bit more about that security because, of course, there would be real implications to regional security. If China, you know, it firms up Tuvalu as its allies and other island nations.
KEAN: Well, potentially, yes, but there is within the Pacific and agreement, what they call the family first, that should there be a security threat, they will turn to each other and Australia and New Zealand but in traditional allies before going further afield. But there's many different ways in which security can be affected that can be policed training. And we are seeing that around the region that China's involved in. And it can be who's helping in terms of a disaster, who has rights to very lucrative fisheries? So, there's different components of security that are on the mind of
United States and Australia. They've just put some sea cables to improve telecommunications to Tuvalu. They want to make sure that cybersecurity stay strong and firm and that, of course, they have good visibility of that.
COREN: Migration and security treaty was signed between Australia and Tuvalu at the end of last year. That is yet to be ratified.
[02:35:00]
Do you think that will stand if Tuvalu makes the switch? I believe the opposition leader has already said that he would scrap it if he was elected prime minister.
KEAN: He did say that, but if you keep listening to that particular interview, he also said that we could do better. So, he's left the door open a crack to review it, to refine it, and to make it more favorable for Tuvalu.
Of course, the former prime minister who is also running in this election and will span for prime minister again is supportive of The Falepili Union, which is that agreement between Australia and Tuvalu. And so as another one of those front runners.
I think there is no question that it will be looked at quite critically and possibly strengthened in Tuvalu's favor, perhaps a bit more consultation. But there's some very attractive aspects of that agreement, which includes a climate migration pathway for up to 280 a year. It includes 6, 7 times an increase in climate adaptation funding and a promise -- a legally binding promise that should there be a crisis, climatic or otherwise, Australia will come to Tuvalu's assistance.
So those are some big and attractive promises. The kicker is that Tuvalu must agree to consult with Australia on any foreign agreements, and that would include with China.
COREN: Very interesting points.
KEAN: So there's some real concern about some (AUDIO GAP) nations.
COREN: Yeah, absolutely.
Well, Meg Kean from the Lowy Institute in Canberra, great to get your insights. Thanks so much for joining us.
KEAN: Thank you for having me. Good night.
COREN: Well, just ahead, the newly crowned Miss Japan is making history and sparking controversy. While supporters say she could be the face of my more diverse Japan. That's coming up.
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COREN: A salute there from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India is marking its 75th Republic Day with pageantry and festivities. Well, this was the scene in New Delhi a short time ago. The Republic Day parade is a grand show of the country's diverse culture and identities, while also fostering a sensitive national pride.
Prime Minister Modi welcomed this year's guest of honor, French President Emmanuel Macron. The two leaders visited historical sites on Thursday, as they seek to strengthen their countries' ties.
A Ukrainian born model has made history as the first ever non- ethnically Japanese to be named Miss Japan, who is sparking debate on what it means to be Japanese in a country, long known for being a largely mono-ethnic state.
CNN's Hanako Montgomery reports from Tokyo.
[02:40:01]
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HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Japan's oldest beauty contest, a quite literal manifestation of the country's beauty standards. But this year, the competition that judges these Japanese women was won by a standout competitor.
KAROLINA SHIINO, MISS NIPPON WINNER (through translator): I kept being told that I'm not Japanese, but I'm absolutely Japanese. So I entered Miss Japan genuinely believing in myself.
MONTGOMERY: Karolina Shiino is a naturalized citizen of Japan. But looks very different to her fellow contestants. Of Ukrainian descent, she became this week the first non-ethnically Japanese woman to win Miss Nippon.
SHIINO: The fact that I don't look like a Japanese person was always in the back of my mind. That's why when I was called, I couldn't stop crying. I was so happy.
MONTGOMERY: Less than 10 years ago. Ariana Miyamoto, half African- American, half Japanese, won a different beauty competition. Miss Universe Japan, her victory was called into question with Miyamoto criticized for not being Japanese enough.
Now, Shiino's win has again stirred debate as to what it means to be truly Japanese, achieving that at least in the eyes of others in her adopted homeland, has not been easy for Shiino.
SHIINO: I think that the number of diverse people who may not look Japanese, but are Japanese at heart, people with various backgrounds will continue to increase. And I would like to see this number increase.
Japan has long been considered a largely mono-ethnic society. That is being upended recently by the country's low birth rate. The average number of children born to women during their reproductive years has fallen to 1.3, below the 2.1 required to maintain a stable population. A greater reliance on immigration is changing the face of Japan. And
many hope that Shiino's newfound fame as a Japanese beauty queen will help people to be more accepting of diversity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Personally, I think Japan is becoming more forward thinking
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I think the world will start to look at Japan in a different light because of this. And I think that will be very important.
MONTGOMERY: Shiino says she feels truly at home here. And as the country of her birth suffers through war, she says she's grateful to be Japanese. Japan as a forges a more inclusive society might be grateful to her, too.
Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong.
"WORLD SPORT" is up next. Then I'll be back in 15 minutes, time with more of CNN NEWSROOM.
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