When President-elect Donald Trump takes office for a second time in January 2025, one of the key foreign policy and economic issues he’ll face is the relationship between the U.S. and China. It has long been one full of conflict and tension.
In China, the U.S. & the Rise of Xi Jinping, FRONTLINE investigates China’s emergence as one of the world’s wealthiest — and most repressive — countries, and the role of its longtime president, Xi Jinping.
“Xi has presided over an increasingly antagonistic relationship with the U.S. since he rose to power in 2012, and has also cracked down hard on internal dissent,” says correspondent, producer and director Martin Smith. “More than a year in the making, our new documentary investigates how Xi operates, why — and what is at stake as the next chapter of U.S.-China relations begins.”
Because China has shut out the international media, this two-hour documentary, from the award-winning team of Smith, producer and director Marcela Gaviria and producer Brian Funck, relies on interviews with former Chinese Communist Party members, exiled human rights and democracy activists, academics, authors and journalists to trace the events that shaped Xi — from being sent to the countryside to perform hard labor during the Maoist revolution, to his embrace of the Chinese Communist Party and his rise through its leadership, to how he has tightened his grip throughout his presidency.
The documentary will premiere on Nov. 26 on PBS and online. It features interviews with current and former U.S. government officials, including members of the first Trump administration who helped shape America’s economic and national security policies towards China.
The documentary also offers a comprehensive look at Xi’s vision for China and the broader implications — from his crackdown on Muslims in Xinjiang to his provocative ambitions for Taiwan.
“He has chosen to go down the route of consolidating power; the route of nationalism,” says New York Times journalist Edward Wong, author of At the Edge of Empire.
The documentary is also timely. With Trump vowing larger tariffs on Chinese-made goods when he takes office, this documentary also probes the state of China’s economy and its trade war with the U.S.
“If anyone believes that they can stop China’s steady rise as an economy, it’s probably indulging in fantasy,” says Victor Gao, an unofficial spokesman for Xi’s government.
As Trump’s return to the Oval Office approaches, China, the U.S. & the Rise of Xi Jinping is a compelling look at China under Xi, the hostile relationship between China and the U.S, the ramifications — and what may come next.
China, the U.S. & the Rise of Xi Jinping will be available to watch at pbs.org/frontline and in the PBS App starting November 26, 2024, at 7/6c. It will premiere on PBS stations (check local listings) and on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel that night at 10/9c and will also be available on the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel.
Guest: Martin Smith is a co-director, co-producer and correspondent of China, The U.S. & the Rise of Xi Jinping. Smith's work for FRONTLINE has taken him to Afghanistan, China, Comoros, Colombia, Germany, India, Iraq, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and Yemen. He has won every major award in television including two DuPont Columbia Gold Batons and four Emmys. He's also been a three-time recipient of the George Polk Award for Investigative Journalism and a four-time winner of the Writer's Guild Award.
This interview will be recorded on Monday, November 25, 2024.
