Premieres Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024 at 10:30 p.m. on KPBS TV / PBS app
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.”
With China largely shutting out the international media, this two-hour documentary, from the award-winning team of Smith, producer and director Marcela Gaviria and producer Brian Funck, draws 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 documentaryfeatures 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. It offers a timely and 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."
With Trump vowing larger tariffs on Chinese-made goods when he takes office, "China, the U.S. & the Rise of Xi Jinping" 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, the film is a must-watch examination of China under Xi, the hostile relationship between China and the U.S, the ramifications — and what may come next.
Watch On Your Schedule: "China, the U.S. & the Rise of Xi Jinping" will be available to stream at pbs.org/frontline and in the PBS app starting Nov. 26, 2024 and on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel that night at 10/9c.
Credits: A FRONTLINE production with RAIN Media, Inc. The producers are Martin Smith, Marcela Gaviria and Brian Funck. The correspondent is Martin Smith. The co-producers are Scott Anger and Elizabeth Hope Williams. The writers and directors are Marcela Gaviria and Martin Smith. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.
