China Accuses Pompeo Of Meddling In It's Affairs; TikTok Video With An Anti-China Message Goes Viral; Labour Leader Refuses To Apologize Over Anti-Semitism Claims; Northern Ireland Voters Focus On Brexit; Kurdish Civilians Bearing Brunt Of U.S. Pullback
GORANI: China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson is accusing the United States of meddling and China's affairs after Pompeo slam to China's government for detaining members of the Muslim Uighur minority and secretive internment camps. China's Foreign Ministry says there are no ethnic, religious or human rights issues in the Far West region where Uighurs mostly live, but the US and other Western nations say China is trying to eradicate that Muslim culture that minority population all together. This is what Mike Pompeo had to say.</s>MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We've all seen the Xinjiang papers released in recent days. They detailed the Chinese party's brutal detention and systematic repression of Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang. These reports are consistent with an overwhelming and growing body of evidence that the Chinese communist party is committing human rights violations and abuses against individuals in mass detention. We call on the Chinese government to immediate release all those who are arbitrarily detained into -- and it's draconian policies that have terrorized its own citizens in Xinjiang. It's not just that are the largest, that are the target of the CCP's hostility Christians, Tibet, and some other minority groups. We've also felt the CCP's heavy hand of repression.</s>GORANI: Well, the issue have gone viral on TikTok, a Chinese-owned social media. The app is best known for pranks, dancing videos, and other lighthearted content. It's mainly younger users, younger even than Instagram. But an Afghan-American teenager used what looked initially like a beauty tutorial to accuse China of abusing Muslims. Take a look.</s>FEROZA AZIZ, AFGHAN-AMERICAN CRITICIZING CHINA: Hi, guys. I'm going to teach you guys how to get long lashes. So, the first thing you need to do is grab your lash curler lashes, obviously. Then you're going to put them down and use your phone that you're using right now to search up what's happening in China, how they're getting concentration camps throwing innocent Muslims in there. Please be aware. Please spread awareness. And, yes, so you can grab your lash curler again --</s>GORANI: Well, the teenager who posted that video says TikTok is now discriminating against her. Hadas Gold joins me now live from London. So this went viral. It got millions and millions of views. But I understand that the initial TikTok video was taken down?</s>HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA AND BUSINESS REPORTER: Well, it's a little bit confusing. That 40-second video definitely went viral with more than one million views. Now, Aziz says that she was locked out of her account. She told CNN, she thinks this because she was criticizing China and that TikTok is, of course, Chinese company owned by ByteDance. It's one of the few apps that have really taken off in the U.S. But the company actually said in a statement that they do not moderate content -- moderate content due to political sensitivities, although there have long been suspicion surrounding certain Chinese tech companies and have closely connected. They may be to the Chinese government. But about what happened with Aziz, TikTok denied that the company banned her video or her account. And we were able to find the video and her account on TikTok as of Wednesday. But what happened, TikTok did say banned another account owned by Aziz because she posted a video with an image of Osama bin Laden, which they say violated their ban on content with imagery related to terrorist organizations. And they also said that they banned the device associated with the account firm of that service. But Aziz says that her account, as recently as in the last few days, she was not able to sign in. She has said that she has recently been able to get back in. Aziz says the video with the Osama bin Laden imagery was just a joke. She was poking fun at what she says is sort of racial overturn that she has faced as a Muslim teenager. But these concerns over TikTok connection to China, the reason that I think the story is getting so much attention is because there's a lot of concerns, including from U.S. lawmakers who have requested a national security assessment of the platform. They're saying that they're worried these apps could be used to spy on U.S. citizens or even become targets of foreign influence campaign. Now, TikTok has been of a sort of a PR move, trying to repair this image about that it's having and its head, Alex Zhu, just recently had an interview with the New York Times. They say that Chinese regulators don't have any influence over the company. They said that they refuse also any requests if they were to get anything from Chinese regulators. They said that for now the company is pretty lucky that we still associate most of TikTok with memes and lip-syncing and fun things like that and not political discussions. But clearly, political discussions are coming to that app and that image could be changing. Hala?</s>GORANI: So I mean, what the company is saying is that they didn't take or lock this young lady out of her account because of the content -- because of this particular video. But does the Chinese government have any influence? What do the people who run TikTok say? Does it have any influence? Can it request that content be taken down?</s>GOLD: So Alex Zhu, who's the head of TikTok told the New York Times no. He said that Chinese regulators have no power over them. And he even said that a lot -- in that interview he said a lot of their data is actually hosted in the United States, not even hosted in China. But there's a lot of concerns about these companies that are ultimately owned or operated from China, about what the Chinese government could, at some point do. Of course, we've had a lot of conversations about this related to Huawei. This is something we see over and over again with Chinese companies. There are some options for a company like TikTok. And this is something that was brought to the head of TikTok in that New York Times interview. For example, they could try to divest TikTok, make it be a U.S. owned company, instead of being connected to China. There's no -- there's no sense of that is coming any time soon. But these are concerns we're seeing over and over again as Chinese companies get more popular and their influence spreads around the world, the concern that they have connections to the Chinese government and what the government could do potentially with that information.</s>GORANI: Well, I'd be interested to know if this segment aired in China or if CNN went dark. That happens sometimes when you talk about China and issues like the Uyghur minority. Thanks very much, Hadas Gold, in London.</s>GOLD: Thanks.</s>GORANI: When a politician is in trouble, they often try to clear things up with a T.V. interview. If that was the British Labour Party leader's plan for dealing with questions about anti-Semitism, it seems to have backfired. Listen to an interview Jeremy Corbyn gave only hours after the chief rabbi of Britain said Corbyn's handling of anti-Semitic allegations in the Labour party made him unfit to be prime minister.</s>ANDREW NEIL, SCOTTISH JOURNALIST: Eighty percent of Jews think that you are anti-Semitic. That's quite a lot of British Jews. I mean, wouldn't you like to take this opportunity tonight to apologize to the British-Jewish community for what's happened?</s>JEREMY CORBYN, BRITISH LEADER OF LABOUR PARTY: What I'll say is this, I am determined that our society would be safe for people of all faiths. I don't want anyone to be feeling insecure in our society. And our government will protect every community.</s>NEIL: So no apology?</s>CORBYN: Against the abuse they received on the streets, on the trains, or in any other --</s>NEIL: So no apology --</s>CORBYN: On any other form of life.</s>NEIL: I'll try one more time. Any apology?</s>CORBYN: Andrew, can I explain what we're trying to do?</s>NEIL: You have, and you've given plenty of time to do it. I asked you if you wanted to apologize and you --</s>CORBYN: Andrew, I don't want anyone to go through what anyone has gone --</s>NEIL: And you said that several times. I understand that, Mr. Corbyn. I was asking you about an apology. Let's move on to Brexit.</s>CORBYN: Well, hang on. Can I just make it clear? Racism in our society is a total poison.</s>NEIL: You've said that several times. So, you know, we get that.</s>CORBYN: -- Islamophobia, anti-Semitism --</s>NEIL: And you said that, too. Let's move on to Brexit.</s>CORBYN: -- or any other -- any other form of racism and I want to work with every community to make sure it's eliminated. That is what my whole has been about --</s>NEIL: You made that clear, and people will make up their own minds.</s>GORANI: Jeremy Corbyn is the leader of the Labour Party -- the leader of the Conservative Party and the current Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has not, according to the BBC, set a date yet for an interview with Andrew Neil, who conducted that interview with Corbyn. Now, with the future of Brexit hanging in the balance, Northern Ireland could play a key role in next month's U.K. elections. Northern Ireland shares a long open border with the Republic of Ireland which would remain in the European Union after Brexit. As our Nic Robertson reports, many Northern Ireland voters are concerned about how all of this will work out for them.</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): North Belfast, the cold crisp night, the election is nearing of 18 Northern Irish seats -- as many as eight could change hands. This is one of them.</s>JOHN FINUCANE, NORTHERN IRELAND POLITICIAN: Hello. How are you? Good evening.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes.</s>FINUCANE: John Finucane,</s>ROBERTSON: John Finucane, a lawyer with pro remain, mostly Catholic Irish nationalists, Sinn Fein.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, 100 percent, John. I'm going to have to vote --</s>FINUCANE: Thank you very much.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The actions for Brexit is really the key</s>ROBERTSON (on-camera): What is it you want to happen?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, to be honest, I voted to remain in the E.U., you know, so my key thing would be like Brexit, so there's no hard borders in Ireland.</s>ROBERTSON (voice-over): In this constituency, most other pro-remain candidates withdrew to let Finucane, who is also Lord Mayor of Belfast get their vote, even though his party refused to take their seats in Westminster.</s>FINUCANE: But the people of North Belfast are very similar to the people of the north here, in general. They voted to remain whenever the Brexit referendum came around in 2016. I think this election on December the 12th gives them another opportunity to send a very powerful message.</s>ROBERTSON: He is up against pro-leave, mostly protestant Democratic Unionist Party incumbent, Nigel Dodds. Just a few weeks ago, Dodds' party were kingmakers in London. Now, they're under fire from all directions. Unprecedented political alliances are forming and the future of Northern Ireland is at stake.</s>ROBERTSON (on-camera): Dodds' message, vote DUP, change Johnson's Brexit deal, strengthen Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom. Dodds' social media feed shows him campaigning, but he didn't let us along or give us an interview. Neither did any other DUP candidate. Jim Wells, a local veteran DUP politician who is not running in the election did agree to talk.</s>JIM WELLS, DUP MEMBER OF LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY: It's on an ice age North Belfast. In fact, there could be a few hundred votes either way. We need to maximize the unionist turnout to defeat Sinn Fein.</s>ROBERTSON: The trail of the union is a live issue in these elections. And that may cost the DUP votes to moderate unionists.</s>STEVE AIKEN, ULSTER UNIONIST PARTY LEADER: But I want to stop Boris Johnson's withdrawal deal. And the only way we can do that is by with remaining within the</s>E.U. ROBERTSON: Even so, neither Aiken nor anyone else in his party will stand against Dodds in North Belfast. Such are the unprecedented tactics of this election. Aiken's decision could actually benefit historic foe, Sinn Fein, because Aiken's party's message is pro-remain. Yet, for all the change, the election is reviving old sectarian grievances. In this divided constituency, that resonates.</s>ROBERTSON (on-camera): Will you be voting?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Most, 100 percent.</s>ROBERTSON: And do you know who you'll be voting for yet?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Nigel Dodds. Yes.</s>ROBERTSON: And why would you vote for him?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's the only one, I think, will have to sound off Boris'</s>ROBERTSON: Getting out the vote this election doubly difficult. Cold weather and Christmas could crimp turn out.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I won't be voting for the DUP or Sinn Fein. Because, you know, they're just so old-fashioned. They need to get high -- because they're not doing anything.</s>ROBERTSON: New tactics are opening new possibilities that could see more pro-remain MPs in Westminster. Moderate nationalists, the SDLP could win a couple of seats.</s>CLAIRE HANNA, SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC AND LABOUR PARTY CANDIDATE: Look, the issue is Brexit. And the issue is the fact that Northern Ireland and certainly my constituency voted very firmly to remain, and that voice hasn't properly been represented in Westminster.</s>ROBERTSON: Hanna is taking on the DUP in South Belfast. Sinn Fein is helping her by stepping aside. Unlike them, she is not an abstentionist, and would take her place in parliament.</s>HANNA: Look, I think abstentionism is not -- and as I say, it over empowers the</s>DUP. ROBERTSON (on-camera): By Christmas, everyone here will know who their new 18 MPs are. Few though would dare predict what happens after that. Nic Robertson, CNN, Belfast, Northern Ireland.</s>GORANI: One month after 39 Vietnamese migrants were found dead in Britain, the first remains have been returned to Vietnam. A plane carrying 16 bodies landed in Hanoi and the victims were taken to their hometowns for funerals. A total of 39 bodies were found in a truck in England last month. Family members say the victims paid very large sums to smugglers in hopes of finding better lives in the United Kingdom. Eight people allegedly connected to this smuggling skim have been arrested in Vietnam and the truck driver is facing manslaughter charges in Britain. Now, to Syria where American troops are again teaming up with the Kurds to fight ISIS when the U.S. ordered its troops out of northern Syria last month, Turkish forces moved in. CNN's Clarissa Ward shows us how civilians are now paying the price for that U.S. exit.</s>CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Class should be in session now, but here in Al-Hasakah, the school has become a temporary shelter for displaced people. In one classroom, we met Ibrahim Hassan, the Kurdish father of five tells us he was forced to flee his home in Ras al-Ain with his children when the Turkish military operation began. This is what remains of his house. Ibrahim says it is one of many in his Kurdish neighborhood that was deliberately ransacked by Turkish-backed forces.</s>IBRAHIM HASSAN, DISPLACED SYRIAN KURD (through translator): They took everything, and after they took all our belongings, they set it on fire and burned it all. Just days before the offensive began, Ibrahim's children had posed smiling with U.S. troops patrolling the area. He says America's presence gave him a false sense of security, then suddenly they were gone.</s>HASSAN (through translator): Since America betrayed us, every time I look at these photos of my children with the Americans, I want to erase them.</s>WARD (on-camera): Do you feel that you trust the Americans still? Definitely not.</s>HASSAN (through translator): Now we hear and we see on television America saying that they're only here for the oil. Why did Trump do this? You have betrayed all of the people.</s>WARD (voice-over): It's a sentiment we found shared by many here. Nearly 200,000 people have been displaced by Turkey's offensive. Hundreds of their homes have been damaged or looted. Local authorities are now trying to move them out of the schools so that class can start again and into hastily built camps like this one, conditions are bleak and resources are scarce. Because of the security situation, international aid agencies have had to pull out, leaving the Kurds with no one to rely on but themselves.</s>WARD (on camera): So she's saying it's really difficult here because it's very cold, especially at night. They don't have enough food. They don't have electricity and the water is not good.</s>WARD (voice-over): Camp organizers say there are 3,000 people living here now, with more arriving every day.</s>WARD (on camera): Almost everyone in this camp is from the town of Ras al- Ain, and Ras al-Ain used to be around 75 percent Kurdish. Now, though, we're told there are just a handful of Kurds left. And the people here believe that the ultimate goal of this Turkish offensive is to essentially push the Kurds out of this area completely and change the ethnic makeup of it forever.</s>WARD (voice-over): Turkey has done little to alleviate their fears, as the Kurds have poured out of these areas, Arabs have been bussed in. Syrian refugees who Turkish authorities claim are originally from these areas. After more than eight years of civil war, this part of Syria is full of stories of people forcibly displaced. In the Christian village of Tel Nasri, we find more families from Ras al- Ain sheltering in the ruins of a destroyed church. Will you try to go home? I asked these women. There's no home to go to, they reply. ISIS cleansed this area of Christians when it was in control. They have yet to return. Now, the village provides refuge for another people, forced from their homes with no sense of a possible return. Clarissa Ward, CNN, Northern Syria.</s>GORANI: We'll be right back. Stay with CNN.