Return to Transcripts main page
CNN 10
Tensions Between China And Taiwan Challenge The U.S.; Questions Surround Thousands Of Flight Cancellations By Southwest Airlines; Balloon Festival Lifts Off. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired October 12, 2021 - 04:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Will a war of words between China and Taiwan escalate into something worse? I`m Carl Azuz. Welcome to the show where
geopolitics factor into today`s first story. China`s government calls Taiwan the quote, "Treasure Island of the Motherland", and insists Taiwan
is a part of China, meaning it would be subject to the control of China`s communist government.
But Taiwan has its own form of government, a democracy and it insists that nobody can force it to accept the path that mainland China has laid out for
it. This dispute between the two sides is nothing new. It`s been going on since the 1940s` when China`s communist party won a civil war and forced
the nation`s previous government to flee to Taiwan.
Today, China sees the island as a breakaway province that needs to be politically reunited with the mainland. Taiwan`s government disagrees with
that and says it will do all it can to keep things as they are with its own democratic government in place.
The back-and-forth statements between the two sides have contributed to what Taiwan calls, their most complex situation in 72 years, and another
element at work here is that Taiwan has the support of the United States. America is looking for ways to keep mainland China from becoming too
dominant in the Asia-Pacific region. So while only 100 miles of seawater separate China and Taiwan, what happens between them could have an impact
an ocean away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Taiwan`s growing arsenal on full display at this weekend`s national day parade. To defend against a growing threat from
China, this small island is spending big on weapons many made in the USA. F-16 fighters, patriot missiles, $5 billion in U.S. weapons sold to Taiwan
last year.
Taiwan arm sales skyrocketed during the Trump years. The former president`s hardline stance against China, one of the few Trump era policies embraced
by President Joe Biden. Defending Taiwan`s democracy against authoritarian China has rare bipartisan support, some worry Washington politics maybe
provoking Beijing. Even pushing Taiwan and the U.S. into dangerous territory.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you do take steps to look like you are aggressively defending Taiwan, then you are arguably put them in a more vulnerable
position. You arguably, again, irritate China.
RIPLEY: Taiwan`s president Tsai Ing-wen says the islands on the front lines of a much bigger battle.
TSAI ING-WEN, TAIWAN PRESIDENT (TRANSLATED): Free and democratic countries have been alerted to the expansion of authoritarianism, and Taiwan is on
the forefront of the defense line of fellow democracies.
RIPLEY: China sent a record 150 warplanes near Taiwan in just five days this month. Biden`s balancing act, calming cross-strait tensions, defending
democracy and preventing a conflict that could cost American lives.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I`ve spoken with Xi about Taiwan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think Taiwan really presents a challenge to any American presidential administration, because you`re trying to balance
competing interests.
RIPLEY: This is an extraordinary sight. Four kinds of domestically produced missiles, rolling through the capital in front of Taiwan`s presidential
palace. An ominous sign of escalating regional tensions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATED): We cannot control whether or not the Chinese communist party has the ability to attack Taiwan, but we are able
to control and make sure it does not have the motivation to do so.
RIPLEY: Every Chinese leader since now has vowed to take control of Taiwan. Analysts say President Xi Jinping maybe the first with a military mighty
enough to do it, even as he calls for peaceful reunification.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATED): Whoever wins Taiwan, wins the world.
RIPLEY: China is locked in territorial disputes across the Indo-Pacific region. Taiwan, Beijing`s biggest unresolved issue and some Biden`s biggest
test. Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. What is the largest, low-cost airline carrier in the world? Ryanair, Southwest, JetBlue, or Spirit. With more than 730
planes and 54,000 employees, Southwest holds this title.
Mystery and speculation surround thousands of recent flight cancellations by Southwest. The mystery is that Southwest`s explanation has been partly
denied by the Federal Aviation Administration, and the speculation is based on timing. The cancellations started shortly after the company said its
employees would have to get a COVID vaccine as required by the U.S. government.
Some travel industry experts and lawmakers have suggested the delays might have been caused by a pilot walk-out. Southwest denies that, but whatever
caused the cancellations some passengers have said they don`t think they`re being told the whole truth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a really big operational mess for Southwest Airlines. It is not like turning off a switch and turning it back
on again. It`s more kin to unplugging something and plugging it back in again, because Southwest says all of these problems really started back on
Friday.
It pins the blame here on-air traffic control and weather issues, but what`s so interesting here is that the Federal Aviation Administration put
out a rare statement saying that those were not problems on Saturday and Sunday when Southwest experienced the lion`s share of its cancellations.
Eight hundred flight cancellations on Saturday, more than 1,100 flight cancellations on Sunday, 30 percent of Southwest total schedule for the
day. We`ve seen about 300 cancellations so far today.
So this is not over just yet, but in a memo to employees Southwest really describes a ripple effect of problems here, that left people and planes out
of position. In fact, some flight crews didn`t even have hotel rooms. That meant thousands of passengers were stranded by this mess.
The airline is a lot smaller than what it was before the pandemic. The airline describes that in a memo to employees, that says that made things
worse. It has trimmed down its Fall schedule. More people being packed into fewer airplanes. One more important thing to note here is that the pilots
from Southwest say this is not on them.
They are trying to debunk rumors that were flying around online over the weekend, that they may have walked off the job protesting the airlines
recently announced vaccine mandate for workers. Pilots, they say in a union statement, that they had no official or unofficial job actions over the
weekend and they`re really pinning the blame here on mismanagement by Southwest Airlines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: It makes sense that there would be a festive title for an event that includes 600 hot air balloons, pilots from around the world and more than
860,000 people in attendance over nine days. That title is Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, and Jeanne Moos takes us up, up and away at
its most popular event which has been flying high since 1989.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Humpty Dumpty didn`t have a great fall. He had a great flight, upside down over Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was the
Special Shapes Rodeo at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, where an armadillo is named "Airmadillo" and time really does fly. Every which
way you turn there are balloons.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need to have a 360 set of eyes in your head today.
MOOS: Special Shapes Day feels a little like the Macy`s Thanksgiving Parade, all the handlers just let their balloons take off. The fiesta
announcers have to keep their "lions" and their "unicorns" straight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s one of the new unicorns.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s one of the new unicorns. Is that a new pig shape? (inaudible) and "Pigaseus".
MOOS: Special Shapes Day starts before dawn with a firing up of the balloons they call glow-up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the sunrise is just killing it. Just killing it.
MOOS: But you can`t start the Special Shapes Rodeo without the National Anthem.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, say can you see --
MOOS: Oh, you can see all right. Motorists can see. One of the few times out of the year when slow traffic isn`t a bad thing. And with all those
special shapes lurking, dogs barked and someone tweeted "felt like something was watching me." From jokers to jesters to a sloth on a stick.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is just the cutest darn thing --
MOOS: Everyone had their favorite, even the sun wore shades. As for the balloon of the day, it was "Airabelle" who got the honor of first to fly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Or` the land of the free --
MOOS: And the home of the flying cow. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: So you could see why folks are all pumped up, "gassed up", "fired up", "inflated" like "untethered" basket cases who are "floating on air"
with their "heads in the clouds". "Airing" out their appreciation with their "eye in the sky" and nothing to "troposphere".
From the air, we`re going down to the valley to visit Valley High School. Shout out to our viewers in Las Vegas, Nevada who subscribed and left a
comment on our YouTube channel. I`m Carl Azuz, for CNN.
END
