China: A New World Order

Over the course of six years, Xi Jinping went from a man largely unknown in the US to President Trump’s biggest threat. As China’s rise challenges America’s standing as the world’s pre-eminent superpower, this episode looks at how he set about transforming China into a tightly controlled state where loyalty to the Communist Party is valued above everything. But at what cost for personal freedom?

In 2013, Xi Jinping became leader of China and head of an economy that is crucial to the rest of the world. For decades, Beijing’s policy had been ‘hide your strength and bide your time’. Under Xi, that changed. The second in the series explores how he transformed China into a more assertive world presence. As he faces his greatest test yet in Hong Kong, how will the newly resurgent China react?

While China’s military and economic might plays out on the world stage, it’s the superpower’s more furtive actions that worry the West. Since Xi Jinping became leader in 2013, accusations of industrial espionage and state-led hacking have increased, though China denies the charges. As growing anger in the US fuels a trade war, some are calling it ‘the largest transfer of wealth in human history’