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American Morning

Bush Meets With Asian Leaders

Aired October 19, 2001 - 10:09   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Want to check in on President Bush and his trip, which now takes him to China.

Our John King is travelling with the president, and he joins us now from Shanghai.

John, hello.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Daryn. Good morning in Atlanta, good evening from Shanghai.

The president resting tonight. More bilateral meetings with leaders gathered here for the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Summit in the morning. Very important diplomacy for the president earlier today here, his first meeting with the Chinese President, Jiang Zemin. President Jiang generally endorsing the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan and the war on terrorism. But he did list some restrictions to Chinese support.

Number one, President Jiang saying he hoped the United States would be very careful in its targeting to avoid civilian casualties. President Jiang also saying he believed the United Nations should have a much more prominent in role in this international campaign against terrorism.

President Bush after that meeting though, choosing to look on the bright side. He said he was convinced, that already China was sharing intelligence information, and that down the road he said he was quite convinced that China would continue to stand side by side with the United States in the war on terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is a firm commitment by this government to cooperate in intelligence matters, to help interdict financing of terrorist organizations. It is -- President Jiang and the government stand side by side with the American people as we fight this evil force.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Mr. Bush also met with the Korean president -- the South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. Mr. Kim saying Mr. Bush had done a remarkable job building the international coalition to fight terrorism, promising South Korea's continued support. In a question and answer session at that meeting, Mr. Bush sharply criticizing Afghanistan's ruling Taliban. He said all of the leaders here, including the United States -- all countries around the world were committed to feeding the starving in Afghanistan, even as the military campaign continued.

Mr. Bush said the Taliban was trying to block that effort.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: The world must understand that the primary reason why food is not making it to starving people is the Taliban. If they were that interested in serving as representatives of the people, they would be encouraging the distribution of food.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The leaders of two predominantly Muslim nations gathered here, Malaysia and Indonesia, have been critical of the U.S. military campaign. But Mr. Bush saying he believes support for the United States was, quote, "near unanimous." And the APAC summit preparing its first political communique ever, a document that will condemn terrorism and also promise -- the 21 members of this organization promising to join the United States in trying to crack down on financial support for terrorist groups -- Daryn.

DARYN: John, I have a bunch of questions for you, but we're up against that satellite window, so I'm just going to have to go ahead and save it for another time. John King in Shanghai; John, thank you.

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