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CNN Live At Daybreak

President Bush Leaves For China Economic Summit

Aired October 17, 2001 - 08:07   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We catch up now with the president as he heads off leaving the White House. He's heading off to China, of course, for that summit.

As Kelly Wallace told us a little bit earlier this morning, there was some debate as to whether this was appropriate time for the president leaving the country, but he will be meeting with some 21 Asian and Pacific nations. They will talk about terror and security issues, talk about joint economic concerns on the agenda. This, of course, is the president's first overseas engagement since the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington. Among those expected to attend Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

And the president getting on Marine One here.

Let's go to Kelly Wallace to talk a little bit more about what the president plans to accomplish on this trip.

Kelly, we'll continue to stay with this picture as you fill us in with some more details here.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely.

And picking up that point you mentioned about the debate, whether it was appropriate for the president to leave the United States when there is this military campaign against Afghanistan and also, of course, continued concerns over anthrax cases in the United States, aides say, look, the president can be in constant communication with his officials back here in the United States. And also, of course, Condoleezza Rice, his national security adviser and Secretary of State Colin Powell will be with him in Shanghai.

And, as you see, Dr. Rice getting aboard Marine One there as well.

And also, Paula, interesting, security being described as extraordinary, as we would expect. Extraordinary measures in place for this first overseas trip for the president since the September 11 attacks. And we are told by a couple of officials, even the Chinese have granted the United States Air Force the freedom to enter Chinese airspace as U.S. Air Force jets will accompany, I believe, Air Force One into Chinese airspace. So that pretty significant as well.

And, Paula, the president...

ZAHN: So, Kelly,...

WALLACE: Go ahead.

ZAHN: Yes.

No, I was just going to ask you about if you've heard anything about specifically what President Bush might address with President Putin?

WALLACE: Well certainly there has been a good deal of cooperation between the two countries since the September 11 attacks. In fact, the president continues to point out that the first international leader to call him on Air Force One after the attacks happened to be Russian President Vladimir Putin. When the president, President Bush, was putting U.S. forces on a heightened state of alert, he said that the Russian leader said he was going to keep his forces down to show that, again, the Cold War coming to an end and that Russia cooperating with the United States.

So the two leaders to discuss intelligent sharing. Obviously that's a big goal for the United States, getting the best intelligence on Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda organization. They will go over on the military front what has been going on in the former Soviet republic. The Russians also allowing the U.S. to enter Russian airspace to carry out any humanitarian efforts. So again, continuing the discussion on the intelligence, the financial and the military front, really unprecedented cooperation between the two countries. That's what officials are saying now -- Paula.

ZAHN: Kelly, as we watch Marine One take off here from the White House, can you give us any insight into the amount of security that's going to have to be in place in China to protect all these world leaders?

WALLACE: Well, the security will probably -- unprecedented. I mean we saw tight security in July when the president and the other leaders of the G-7 nations attended the Genoa Summit in Italy. Security likely to be like that but even more so out of concerns after the September 11 attacks. We know that there are restrictions in terms of entering Chinese airspace. We know that there are tens of thousands of security personnel on the ground. So you can imagine that there will be extraordinary measures in place on the ground, in the air around Shanghai to protect President Bush as well as the other leaders who will be there.

And as we mentioned, again, all the U.S. officials are describing in terms of U.S. security is that there are extraordinary measures in place. They won't discuss what those are but you can expect every precaution will be taken since, of course, this is Mr. Bush's first overseas trip since the -- those attacks -- Paula.

ZAHN: And, Kelly, you highlighted the fact that we saw Dr. Condoleezza Rice board the helicopter. Will she be the president's chief adviser on this trip? WALLACE: She is. She plays that role pretty much on a daily basis, her chief national security adviser. Secretary of State Colin Powell, though, as we mentioned, will be there as well.

And Vice President Dick Cheney, you saw, Paula, the president shaking the congressional leaders' hands and also the vice president's hand. The vice president will be here holding down the fort, if you will. He is expected to be a little bit more visible, though, while President Bush is away. We know that the vice president for sometime had been in a secure, undisclosed location out of concerns not having the president and the vice president in the same place. But we're expecting to see probably more of the vice president, including, we understand, he will be making a trip to New York, his first trip since the September 11 attacks, to survey the damage.

So what White House officials continue to say, Paula, is that the president has his key advisers there with him in Shanghai, he will constantly be briefed, constantly can be on the telephone talking with his National Security Council. So he can really do almost everything he's doing here at the White House while he's in Shanghai -- Paula.

ZAHN: Thanks so much for walking us through that. I guess we all would agree it's an absolutely perfect day for the president to be making this short trip from the White House to Andrews Air Force Base.

Thanks, Kelly, see you a little bit later on this morning.

WALLACE: Sure.

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