China, the U.S. & the Rise of Xi Jinping

November 26, 2024
7/6c: pbs.org/frontline, PBS App
10/9c: PBS stations (check local listings), YouTube
& the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel
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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 complex and contentious U.S. relationship with China.

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 documentary, premiering Nov. 26 on PBS and online, also 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. 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, China, the U.S. & the Rise of Xi Jinping 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.

For the full story, watch China, the U.S. & the Rise of Xi Jinping. The documentary 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. Subscribe to FRONTLINE’s newsletter to get updates on events, podcast episodes and more related to China, the U.S. & the Rise of Xi Jinping.

Credits
China, the U.S. & the Rise of Xi Jinping is 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 & executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.

About FRONTLINE
FRONTLINE, U.S. television’s longest running investigative documentary series, explores the issues of our times through powerful storytelling. FRONTLINE has won an Academy Award® as well as every major journalism and broadcasting award, including 108 Emmy Awards and 34 Peabody Awards. Visit pbs.org/frontline and follow us on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, X and Facebook to learn more. FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and Koo and Patricia Yuen.

Press Contact: Anne Husted, Associate Director of Publicity, Communications and Awards | frontlinemedia@wgbh.org | 617.300.5312