>> welcome to al jazeera america. we're live in new york city. i'm tony harris. this is our top stories. nasa needs to replace a broken pump at the space station delaying a cargo launch. and that is from the associated press. that doesn't make sense but we'll sort that out and i promise a better story on that. top tech executives met with president obama while yesterday's nsa legislation loomed. n.a.t.o. said six service members died in afghanistan, there was no word what caused

the helicopter to crash but the taliban said it shot it down. africa's youngest nation is in turmoil. 70 soldiers are dead and dozens of civilians have been killed. this is the result of an attempted coup in the week. and today marks th the anniversy of the up rising that led to the arab spring. now tony harris, "inside story" is next on al jazeera america. . >> the u.s. seeks a renewed relationship with the philippines, still hurting after a major storm. recovery and the pivot towards asia are the "inside story."

>> welcome to "inside story." i'm ray suarez. for more than a months the specific island nation of the philippines have struggled to recover from the worst national disaster that it's ever known. typhoon haiyan. there are still people missing as the storm scoured towns and villages from the land. aid workers will be helping the millions of people who survived but lost homes and shelter for a long time to come. now the united states is promising a new package of military aid to the philippines, $40 million, as geopolitical tensions in the region rise after provocative decisions made by china. we'll get the latest on storm recovery and face off of the south china sea on this edition

of "inside story." but first some background. >> secretary of state john kerry traveled to the philippines tuesday. he met with senior filipino officials to discuss trade, security and disaster relief. it is part of the u.s. strategy to pivot towards asia and become closer to its pacific partners. >> the united states will stand with our friends in this region. >> the tour comes during rising tensions in the region. china declared a new air defense zone above the east china sea. with disputes still boiling in the south china sea, the restriction has concerned it's neighbors, including vietnam, japan and the philippines. >> the united states does not recognize that zone and does not accept it. the zone should not implemented, and china should refrain from

taking similar unilateral actions i in the region particularly over the south china sea. >> we believe safety and security of the affected nations. >> the trip is kerry's fourth to the region as secretary of state. he canceled the planned visit just before typhoon haiyan. this week kerry plans to visit the area hardest hit in that storm, in the town of tacloban. typhoon haiyan hit a little over a month gone with winds gusting at 200 mph and a storm surge that swept away entire neighborhoods. since the u.s. has dispatched an aircraft area to discontribute aid. >> with significance assistance give to us by the united states

after typhoon haiyan. whether by support or by generously providing relief goods and aid, your support of the filipinos was clear. >> reporter: initial aid responses approaching $300 million. tent cities have been built and cash networks have been set up with charities and the philippine government. >> it is up to the people we can persevere and rise up to the challenges. even though it is slow people are still rising up. >> reporter: more than 5,000 were killed in the storm. 27,000 people were injured, and 1700 are still missing. disaster experts predict rebuilding affected towns will take up to ten years. >> is the united states new aid commitment to the fill pines simply help from an old ally? another step in the pivot to

asia or some combination of the two. joining us to discuss this question or more, vice president and director of the brent sc scocroft center, and worked in administrations of both president barack obama and president bush. and bonnie glazer, let me start with you, is the pivot to asia that we keep hearing so much about a slogan, or is there something substantial that is going on now? >> well, it's not a slogan. the united states has interest in the pacific asiaen region, and there is desire of president

obama to be more active in the area and we're trying to promote the trans-pacific partnership that will hopefully get established next year. and in military terms there is also an important component. the united states is trying to reassure our allies and our partners in the region that the assistance that the u.s. provide ready presence, the peace and stability that we have provided for the region will continue in the future. that the united states will be a credible and reliable ally and partner going forward. so there are diplomatic components and military components. this is a critically important region in the united states. and the key factor is central in this policy is china's rise and how the united states will manage china's rise going forward. >> how does china's rise look, camille, when you're standing in

manila. is the country looking to tighten itself to the united states because a politically, powerful china makes it feel insecure? >> you can see that the philippines may be insecure, but we are just admitting that our military capabilities are limited, and it's challenged, and so having the united states there as a key ally, one of our oldest allies, really, gives us more confidence. facing china, however, we see--we look at it as david versus goliath. we have elevated the government has elevated the case through the al jazeera america arbitration course through the hague, there is a case there right now on the south china sea dispute. having the united states support this measurement is something

that the people really appreciate, the public and the government, that they have a backer some how. >> ddon't you have to live with china as a neighbor. and a new relationship now that it's a more powerful and wealthy country is there risk of having it look like provocation in beijing? >> so definitely we are also trying to be more measured in our approach knowing that the u.s. is here and taking steps. the rebalancing strategy of president obama, so i think the government is worried that it might send the wrong signal to china, that we're trying to form what they already call an axis. we want to hear these words because it reminds us of potential conflict. the tension is escalated by the

assertiveness. >> can the united states from thousands of miles away be a counterweight to china for these smaller countries in southeast asia? >> well, we've had significant military capabilities in the region for quite awhile. it's been several decades, and it will certainly be several more. i think this is really a reaction to china overplaying its hand a bit recently, and there has been a sign wave of china in 2010. they overplayed their hand. and then they did pivot policy announcement, and this year, too, there is a bit of playing and assertiveness and you're seeing the u.s. reaction to this through working with allies and partners, with the philippines, japan, the visit to the vietnam. i think these countries are nervous. i think they find it helpful when the u.s. reassures them. i guess that provides an useful

balance. >> is china in effect unilaterally trying to extend the reach of its territorial waters, redrawing the map in east asia? >> there are a number of disputed territories and places in the ocean and i think china is trying to test and prove. this is classic rising power stuff. the rising power is probing, trying out now rules. trying to make up somewhat it accommodated are it's interests, and i think it's very useful for secretary kerry to take this trip. i think it was useful for the united states to fly the b-52 bombers over this zone right after china announced it over the international waters. i think we'll see more types of these actions and reactions, and we hope things stato stay conta, and they don't escalate. >> we'll talk more about this

budding relationship or reintroduction to east asia on the part of the united states. the pivot to asia, this is the "inside story."

>> welcome back to "inside story." i'm ray suarez. we're continuing our conversation now on united states strategic interests in the asia pacific. secretary of state john kerry is in the philippines shoring up alliances with asia. camille, earlier in this still young century one of the biggest concerns the united states had about the philippines was the muslim separatist movement in the south. just recently the country signed a peace treaty, how is that part of the relationship going, and is something that secretary kerry will be asking a lot of questions about? >> we are also expecting secretary kerry will address this because it is a security issue, and it is still ongoing. there are al-qaeda link militants there in the south, and we're expecting the united

states to step up. but in the past years they've been supportive of this, and they've been training with our military and improving their capabilities, and that has sent a strong signal to the militants that they have a serious enemy in the united states and the philippine military. >> is the current aquino government one that is open to accepting more visits from u.s. fleets and having for the first time in a long time a permanent presence on the philippine islands of american military? >> there are--the president aquino and his government has not said explicitly that it is very open to the idea of the united states returning to the philippines, especially on the establishment of bases. but given the threat of what you

can call a threat from china, and they ar there are talks ongg between the united states and the philippines on asking for the continual presence of american military here. there are several factors they have to consider, and i think they have not been agreeing on the scale, scope, and the use of the facilitie facilities in theg negotiations. >> bonnie glazer, what is different about this? if china tried to put a naval base in colombia or establish one on the north shore of the dominican republic, a country very close to the coast line of the united states, would beijing be justified at all in seeing this as provocative? >> well, i think that any country has the right to invite another country to be present,

have rotational troops on its soil. if countries around china are more and more nervous about china's intentions and activities and invite in the united states, want to see more u.s. presence, more military exercises with the u.s. and that makes china nervous, i think the goal of the united states and these countries is to persuade china to engage in more of a rules-based way with other countries rather than throwing its weight around. and so at the end of the day that should be the objective of the united states and i think is. we want china to engage with these countries in a way where china respects their interests. at present, china is testing other countries and wants its interest respected.

but it's a two-way street. china has been behaving pretty aggressively, and is trying to see some territory that the philippines sees as belonging to it. china has been interfering with efforts to conduct energy exploration. they're doing the same with the vietnamese. this is a growing process where you have a very big power and small nations, and the smaller nations are reaching out to the united states, which is pretty far away, but has a historical record of being fair and help to go support a country's interest without having any aim to take their territory or their energy or otherwise interfere with their objective. >> well, earlier you referred to this as rising power stuff. was it different from what the united states was looking to do in 1888, and what the british

were trying to do after the napoleonic wars. >> i think you can make that analogy, but it's very imperative to reiterate bonnie's point, we're so inter dependent it doesn't have to be a repeat of previous historical moments when a rising power and an existing power clash. that's not inevitable whatsoever. we live in a different war. we have enormous inter relationships, and i think key of making sure that we avoid such a problem is make sure that we cooperate at the military-to-military level. frankly, i think the countries are quick to be inflamed against the other, and we need to work with china to create an understanding to avoid a disaster. >> maybe there is a new rule

book for big powers in the 21st century. thank you for those in our studio. secretary of state visited with people in tacloban. this is "inside story."

>> welcome back to "inside story." i'm ray suarez. it's been more than a month since typhoon haiyan slammed into the philippines. we want to turn our discussion over to the relief efforts and the millions of filipinos displaced by the storm. with us is john, director of the world food program, and gareth

with save the children. early on we were told one of the great difficulties was the tremendous damage in the cente l area of leyta and tacloban, it was very difficult to get aid in that last mile where the need was greatest. have those difficulties been solved now? >> oh definitely, the last mile of the logistics is always the challenge, but that has been massively improved now. 14 million people still remain effected, and mainly children. we've been able to reach more than 150,000 people with life-saving aid already, so the

logistical effort is difficult, but we need to make sure that it doesn't happen again. >> after you get people hydration and first aid, what needs to come in train right behind them? >> well, what's most striking about the situation here is the extraordinary resourcefulness and resilience of the filipino people themselves caught up in this emergency. you see banners on the ground saying things like homeless, roofless, but not hopeless. that's a real measure of what people want. to recover their livelihoods and build back better. we help people to recover their lives. that's everything from coconut farmers who lost their trees, those who lost their boats and education. the disruption to the education of one million pupils has been extraordinary. it becomes very quickly helping people to recover all the vital

parts of their lives and livelihood which they so urgently want to get back. >> in the typhoon belt, and in this particular place where the storm was worse is a very vulnerable place. arare yours and other agencies developing a tool kit in response to this typhoon and the typhoon next year and the typhoon after that. >> we are, indeed. we started out with traditional food assistance program delivering food to the people in need in those disaster areas, but we're very much focusing on how quickly the markets are recovering, and shifting from food to cash-base programming, where we give a family a few months allowance to give them

the ability to re-establish their livelihoods. this was a dynamic response. i was there just a couple of weeks ago, and as gareth said the people of the philippines is taking action to get back on their feet, and also the government of the philippines is very much engaged. we're very much a support effort to the filipino people and their government as they take the lead. >> what is the virtue of putting displaced people back to work as part of the aid effort rather than bring in workers for that same labor. >> it's critical that we allow the people to take control of their own lives, and they want to. they don't want to be served or be beneficiaries. they want to take over their lives. our focus is to help them get back on their feet. in our case its food. but on other organizations, they work with livelihood, and how

soon can we get the farmers planting again? we need to plant now to have food in the coming months. everything is considered now and this is part of the new dynamic response. it's not step by step. it's many things happening at the same time. >> gareth, you refer to building back better, when people put up new neighborhoods to replace the ones that were blown away, are they neighborhoods that will stand up a little better to the next typhoon? >> that's what is an important aspect of save the children and other organizations. this i orp the people of the philippines to rebuild, we rebuild with resistence in the infrastructure so lives are not lost. >> do you have what you need?

are the governments of the world stepping up? >> the world food program is doing very well but what is very important are the reconstruction efforts that will come after the immediate response. we can't forget about those, the international community cannot be passive about the fact that this is a very vulnerable area and there are tremendous opportunities through reasonable investments to give the people a greater capacity to with stand the next storm. >> how long are you going to be on the ground? >> we have plans to be on the ground at least through march, but we will assess what the needs are, and we'll stay longer if necessary. >> and gareth how long do you plan on your team being there on the ground? >> save the children have been in the philippines for 0 years already, and already our plan is stretching for the next three years. we'll stay as long as the job is needed. >> what does that mean? and in what fashion, really, is it full-on relief at this point

for another year or even longer? >> no, it will be full on on relief for the next six months and that will bring more to the livelihood efforts. we'll take our coul cues from te filipino government and how long they want us to work in the region. we're receiving very genius funds that are welcome for the next six months but we need to look at the longer term when the cameras have left. there will be vital needs that will need a response. >> john brown, gareth, thanks to you both. that brings us to the end of this edition of "inside story." in washington, i'm ray suarez.

some of america's best-kept secrets are out. by now, most of the world has heard the name edward snowden. the former national security agency contractor who released thousands of classified documents about government surveillance in one of the most significant leaks in u.s. history. he's been charged with espionage and has been living in russia under temporary asylum. the american journalist at the center of the story lives in brazil. >> we've had to come to rio to speak to glenn greenwald.