#video #Clash Of The Superpowers Ameri Episode 1 Engsub
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00:04Xi Jinping and Donald Trump the leaders of the world's most powerful countries are locked in a
00:11high-stakes battle for global power and influence it's a fight that's threatened to explode since
00:19Trump first took office tore up the diplomatic rule book and smashed the consensus on free trade
00:26we lose almost 500 billion dollars a year with China and we want to know what's wrong with us
00:34we are about to help President Trump affect the biggest shift in U.S. foreign policy since the
00:40end of the Cold War now with both sides staking their claims on different parts of the world
00:45this is the story of how these two superpowers have become tangled in a struggle for economic
00:51supremacy with repercussions everywhere we have to realize there's this crisis and we have to take
00:58action to change the alternative is total defeat we'll hear from top U.S. officials and Chinese
01:06academics who give the inside track from Beijing when the president's off the handle you don't know
01:14what's going to happen as well as those caught in the middle of this dangerous standoff the message
01:21from the White House was president of the United States wants you to choose and he wants you to
01:27a few days before Donald Trump was first sworn in as president Xi Jinping headed to the Swiss Alps the
01:55leader of
01:55the world's largest communist country was there to join the business and political elites at the annual world economic forum
02:05this is first time president Xi attended so China want to make a clear point where we stand on international
02:14economic system
02:19Davos is an extraordinary environment it's jammed solid with the world's political leaders bankers financiers this year in particular was
02:33extraordinary because Trump was about to be inaugurated and many of us were quite alarmed
02:42we never seen a politician like Trump you can nobody know his quality how he operates
02:50Trump was clearly turning his back on free trade and open markets the traditional American mantras that had led the
03:00free world for for decades and then enrolls president Xi in a magnificent piece of theater
03:07and delivers a speech which says essentially I am the custodian of free trade and open markets
03:40I never thought in my lifetime to see a communist leader actually to defend the free trade
03:46but remember free trade is good for China the other thing is to remind Trump that this is your system
03:54you created to benefit you and also benefit the rest of the world so you better keep it don't abandon
04:03the ship you are the captain
04:06people didn't know whether he was taking the mickey a little bit at first
04:12it was such an extraordinary counterintuitive speech for Xi to be making
04:18follow me work with me to ensure that we don't allow anyone in brackets incoming US President Trump to trample
04:28down this magnificent free trading structure that has made us all so much more prosperous
04:34thank you
04:35he saw an opportunity and he took it it was a brilliantly crafted intervention and it completely stole the show
04:45she was the toast of Davos
04:50quite a journey for a man who become leader of the Chinese Communist Party the CCP only four years earlier
05:03he'd taken office promising to build on a booming economy and to reclaim China's centuries old place as a leading
05:10nation of the world
05:12he called his vision the Chinese dream
05:28what China dream basically means that China restore its previous position it's not China will dominate or try to take
05:41over the world
05:43in the West the press called rise of China which is a total misnomer
05:50she make a point saying this is a restoration not rice
05:55please welcome the next president of the United States
05:59Mr. Donald J. Trump
06:02now Trump was heading to the White House with his own promise to make his country great again
06:09his victory followed a campaign where he put China front and center of his foreign policy in his own unique
06:17style
06:17we can't continue to allow China to rape our country and that's what they're doing
06:24it's the greatest theft in the history of the world
06:30one of the first times I briefed President Trump was during the campaign
06:35I get about four sentences into my briefing my brilliant briefing on China
06:39and then Donald Trump with like a staccato approach starts firing questions at me
06:46what's China's GNP?
06:48what's the trading balance between the United States and China?
06:51is there military any good?
06:54and then I realized he cared about the balance of payments
06:58he knew about tariffs
07:01he understood the business aspect of the relationship
07:06for many decades we've made other countries rich
07:11while the wealth, strength and confidence of our country
07:16has dissipated over the horizon
07:19USA! USA!
07:21he paid attention to a group of people
07:23what we call our Rust Belt
07:25the former manufacturing part of the United States
07:27he was the only candidate who recognized their legitimate pain
07:31and the only candidate who had a solution
07:33which is we're going to go and renegotiate all those trade deals with China
07:38together we will make America great again
07:43thank you, God bless you and God bless America
07:55I remember walking into the executive office building
07:59one day into the Trump presidency
08:01and there's a big sign that lists all the meetings that are being held
08:05and one of the titles is something like
08:07let's talk about greater US-China economic integration
08:11this is a day into the Donald Trump administration
08:14and he's just won an election
08:16with a significant part of his agenda being
08:19to fight off China's economic predation
08:23and people in his bureaucracy, in his building
08:26are having meetings about how we could do more economically with China
08:31I was surprised by some of the assumptions
08:35that were being presented by
08:39long-time diplomats, long-time intelligence officers and others
08:43there was a view that really all that Beijing wanted
08:47at the end of the day was just to access a large American market
08:51and to prosper and thrive in a US-dominated world order
08:57I thought that those assessments were out of date to put it mildly
09:04In the 80s and 90s, the Chinese Communist Party
09:07had opened the country to Western markets
09:10part of what they called socialism with Chinese characteristics
09:15the country enjoyed unprecedented growth
09:18which was given a huge boost in 2001
09:21when China was welcomed into the WTO
09:24the World Trade Organization
09:28it defined China as a developing economy
09:31meaning trade rules were applied more leniently
09:34while the world's biggest companies continue to flood into the country
09:41I was there as a reporter for Reuters news agency
09:45all the way from the late 90s until 2005
09:49it was a heady time
09:51it was hard not to feel optimism
09:54that China would continue opening up
09:59that its marketization would continue
10:03and there was a hope
10:05the politics would begin to moderate as well
10:09but by the time I left
10:12I had this sinking feeling
10:13that many of those optimistic assumptions
10:16were going to be dashed
10:22I think China entered the WTO
10:25with a really good deal
10:27they got the benefits of participating
10:29in a global trading system
10:31in which there were rules and norms
10:34but it was given a special carve-out
10:36where it could pretend
10:38that it was a developing country
10:39which I think is always tough
10:42when you're one of the world's largest consumers
10:44of Ferraris and Lamborghinis
10:46it's entirely logical
10:48and sort of expected
10:50that Beijing would want to maintain that system
10:56Coming into the White House
10:57Trump's team included hawkish advisors
11:00who wanted to ensure the new president
11:02would deliver on his promise to take on China
11:05but they knew
11:06that for all of Trump's tough talk
11:08he had a reputation to protect
11:10as a champion of business
11:13and he wanted to keep the CEOs on side
11:16many of whom had moved manufacturing
11:18to China
11:22in the White House
11:23in the White House
11:23we had the two camps start to develop
11:25the more globalist establishment camp
11:29and more of the kind of disruptors
11:32populist nationalist camp
11:34the biggest fights were about China and trade
11:36and that's because the reason is
11:38we had so many Wall Street guys
11:41and look I worked at Goldman Sachs
11:43we had Goldman Sachs guys in there
11:45Goldman Sachs and Wall Street
11:47is the investor relations partner
11:49for the Chinese CCP
11:50this radical cadre
11:52that runs China
11:55Chief amongst the Wall Street faction
11:57was Gary Cohn
11:59the former president of Goldman Sachs
12:01and Trump's choice
12:03as his top economic advisor
12:05as a market practitioner
12:07I think that we can have
12:10a globalized world
12:12that works well
12:14you want to expand your plant
12:16or when Mark wants to come in
12:18and build a big massive plant
12:20or when Dell wants to come in
12:22and do something monstrous and special
12:26you're going to have your approvals really fast
12:28thank you sir
12:29the question is can we both be complementary
12:32to each other
12:33I think the answer is yes
12:38whether the Hawks or the globalists
12:40would have their upper hand
12:41would be put to the test
12:43at Trump's first summit with Xi
12:46as he got ready
12:48the US president was briefed
12:49by his national security advisor
12:53President Trump is kind of
12:54reflexively contrarian
12:56and because he's reflexively contrarian
12:58if you advise President Trump
13:00and say hey everybody agrees
13:02this is what you should say
13:04he might just say the opposite
13:06despite everybody
13:07so what we decided
13:08is what we would emphasize
13:10with President Trump
13:11is what Xi Jinping wants him to say
13:13and let President Trump be contrary
13:15to Xi Jinping
13:16rather than to his advisors
13:23what we said to President Trump
13:24what we said to President Trump
13:24is how Xi Jinping uses this language
13:27that sounds nice
13:28or at least innocuous
13:30and when the Chinese Communist Party officials
13:31say win-win
13:32what they mean
13:33is they win twice
13:36Xi arrived in America
13:37hoping Trump might back down
13:39from the aggressive threats
13:41of his campaign
13:43You know for people in China
13:44basically we know
13:45every election
13:47there's always a
13:48bashing China element somewhere
13:50a lot of name calling
13:52a lot of blaming
13:53I think also the advisors
13:55that he's using at that time
13:56was very hawkish
13:57like Steve Bannon
13:58Matt Partinger
13:59and all those people
14:00but then normally
14:02when the new administration
14:03come into the White House
14:05it becomes more
14:06you know
14:06pragmatic
14:09President Xi
14:10attached great importance
14:12to the personal relationship
14:14his personality
14:16is
14:17he's very easygoing
14:19he wants to make friends
14:21and when he recognizes
14:23the other side as a friend
14:25I think that will be very helpful
14:27for the bilateral relations
14:31Trump had chosen to host Xi
14:33not at the White House
14:34but at his Palm Beach resort
14:36Mar-a-Lago
14:39President Trump
14:40he fancies himself
14:41as a great negotiator
14:42and part of that
14:44is separating the relationship
14:45from the tough issues
14:47you're negotiating
14:48thank you
14:48thank you
14:49he's in the hospitality business
14:52he had his granddaughter
14:54who was learning Chinese
14:58sing a Chinese folk song
15:05this is a great move
15:06it's very positive
15:08it's like a family reunion
15:16one of the biggest parts
15:18of Mar-a-Lago
15:19was time set aside
15:22for the two heads of state
15:23to be alone
15:24one on one
15:25the two spent
15:27a vast amount
15:28of time together
15:29the main message
15:30the president
15:31was delivering to us
15:33is that you know
15:33he and she
15:34were hitting it off
15:38it seems they like each other
15:40yeah chemistry is good
15:44we've had a long
15:46discussion already
15:48and so far
15:49I have gotten nothing
15:51absolutely nothing
15:53but we have developed
15:54a friendship
15:55I can see that
15:56and I think
15:57you know President Trump
15:58he's a New Yorker
15:59I'm a New Yorker
16:00and New York men
16:02of that certain age
16:02they tend to say
16:03he's my best friend
16:04he's a pal of mine
16:07and they were not really friends
16:08they've just met each other
16:09and they probably
16:10have business interests together
16:11but it doesn't mean
16:12they're golf buddies
16:13so when President Trump says
16:15oh he's my friend
16:16I think what that meant
16:17is that President Trump
16:17met him
16:18he understands how he's
16:19going to negotiate with him
16:20thank you everybody
16:21thank you very much
16:22thank you very much
16:28Xi wasn't only relying
16:29on his budding relationship
16:31with Trump
16:32he'd long been working
16:33to ensure China
16:35would be at the center
16:35of global trade
16:37with or without America
16:41a month after Mar-a-Lago
16:42he played host to leaders
16:44from around the world
16:45to celebrate his flagship initiative
16:49Belt and Road
16:58Harking back to the ancient Silk Road
17:01between East and West
17:02Belt and Road
17:04aimed to better link China
17:05with the world
17:06financing huge infrastructure projects
17:11One of the most ambitious schemes
17:13ever conceived
17:14it spanned continents
17:16with over a trillion dollars spent
17:21showcasing China's ability
17:22to deliver world-leading feats
17:24of engineering
17:27now Xi put on a summit
17:29befitting its scale
17:31the Chinese do know
17:33how to put on a show
17:34the biggest rooms you've ever seen
17:37vast banqueting tables
17:39you know more flowers
17:40you know more flowers
17:41than they've got in Kew Gardens
17:42to invite President Xi
17:43to the podium
17:45President Xi decided to make
17:48a Belt and Road summit
17:49to assure the world
17:50if the US is back to the protectionism
17:54China is still there to help
17:55and to work with everybody
17:57Belt and Road is important
18:01in the demonstrating
18:02to the American president
18:04or American government
18:07that China could have alternative
18:11if Western countries decide to block
18:14or slow down
18:15Chinese economic activities
18:25Cutting a somewhat lonely figure
18:28at the summit
18:28was the US Representative Matt Pottinger
18:32one of the things that Beijing does
18:34is to try to create the sense
18:37that the Communist Party's success
18:39is inevitable
18:40so come jump on the bandwagon
18:45they wanted to assemble
18:46as many world leaders as possible
18:49to essentially endorse Belt and Road
18:54I remember speaking to President Trump
18:56explaining that Belt and Road
18:58was actually a system
19:01designed to diminish
19:02the influence of the United States
19:05it was an extremely opaque system
19:10whereby governments would have
19:12to surrender sovereignty
19:14over critical infrastructure
19:16as collateral
19:18in case they weren't able
19:19to pay back debts
19:22and so it was really sort of
19:23a form of loan sharking
19:25on a global scale
19:26the country's goal
19:29Pottinger's line didn't go down well
19:30with the other attendees
19:33one of them was Kenya's president
19:35whose country had just that month
19:37opened a multi-billion dollar new railway
19:40largely financed by China
19:43Kenya
19:44Kenya took a big loan
19:45to build the standard gauge railway
19:48and it was never going to be easy paying it
19:51but was there a Chinese debt trap?
19:54No.
19:55African countries are caught in a debt trap
19:57but it's not of Chinese making
20:00the predominant amount of money owed by African states
20:04is owed to Western governments and private banks
20:09The Americans were uncomfortable
20:11with any Chinese initiative
20:13that looked as though it had a strategic dimension
20:15and this clearly was a strategic project
20:18it was about projecting Chinese influence
20:21securing Chinese supply lines
20:23and securing export routes as well
20:27The same day that Xi was hosting his guests in Beijing
20:32Trump's new trade representative
20:33was being sworn in
20:38Robert Lighthizer had spent years
20:40accusing China of breaking trade rules
20:42Thank you all very much for being here
20:44I'm very grateful for your friendship
20:45He quickly summoned top officials to the West Wing
20:50The senior people were there
20:51and a lot of them were in the direction
20:54of what we have to have dialogue
20:56we have to tell the Chinese what we want
20:58all these kinds of things
20:59You know, I said, you know, I don't agree with any of this
21:02The Chinese game plan
21:05has been dialogue, dialogue, dialogue
21:08talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, and then don't do anything at all
21:13Lighthizer's strategy was to tax goods
21:16coming to the US from China
21:19but his plans ripped open divisions
21:21with the Wall Street faction in the White House
21:25I wanted tariffs on as much as we can
21:28to change the economic relationship
21:30between the United States and China
21:32to force companies to come back to the United States
21:34or to find other places to manufacture
21:37but there was an organized group
21:40who's against tariffs
21:43I thought there was more question
21:46to who we were hurting
21:47and who we were helping by putting tariffs on
21:51the United States
21:52Lighthizer started to get to the president and say
21:55Mr. President, your voters, the people who trusted you
22:00expect that this is going to get done
22:02it's not getting done not because you don't want it to get done
22:06it's not getting done because people on your team
22:09are deliberately obstructing your order
22:12to bring China to account for what it's done to the American people for 30 years
22:17and the president said
22:20I'm not going to let people delay anymore
22:25Trump gave Lighthizer the green light to launch a major investigation into China's trade practices
22:31Thank you very much Ambassador Lighthizer
22:34especially claims it was forcing US companies to give up blueprints for their most valuable technology
22:40we're going to be fulfilling another campaign promise by taking firm steps to ensure that we protect the intellectual property
22:49of American companies and very importantly of American workers
22:53American companies were desperate to do business in China and the Chinese would say you can enter the Chinese market
23:00but you have to allow us access to your proprietary technology
23:04well when American companies did that very quickly they found that that technology belonged to their Chinese partners and then
23:13they would go flood the market with these products at a much cheaper rate put American businesses out of business
23:20and dominate the global supply chains
23:25the investigation could pave the way for wide-ranging tariffs on China
23:32economists believe that tariffs are going to raise prices and lead to inflation
23:37even if you bought the idea
23:40what's the alternative that we teach our children Chinese and tell them to prepare for a life of servitude
23:48we have to realize there's this crisis and we have to take action to change
23:53and if there's some small cost associated with it
23:57the alternative is total defeat and that's not an option
24:05in Beijing
24:06Xi was showing no sign of making concessions
24:12although China's phenomenal growth was slowing
24:15his ambition remained resolute
24:18his ambition remained resolute
24:19the Chinese Communist Party
24:20is not to be able to beat the鼓s and beat the鼓s and beat the鼓s and beat the鼓s
24:29in a three-hour speech to the annual party congress
24:32he described 5,000 years of China's great imperial past
24:38before the century of humiliation that started with the Opium Wars of the 19th century
24:46before the British came to invade the Opium War
24:51I'm talking about 1820s, 30s
24:53Chinese economy is 32.5% of global GDP
24:59when communists took over in 1949
25:02Chinese economy less than 2% of global GDP
25:06that is a freefall disaster
25:08at the time Xi Jinping announced the China Dream
25:11we are about 12 or 15% of GDP
25:16which means if you compare with the 1830s
25:19we still have a lot of room there
25:21right?
25:25Three weeks later, Trump arrived in Beijing
25:28for what the Chinese were calling a state visit plus
25:33with the threat of tariffs looming large
25:35this was a chance for Xi to win round the US president
25:41Xi want to make it as spectacular as possible
25:45for obvious reasons
25:49everybody knows that Trump liked spectacle
25:55he likes, well, being treated like a king, maybe
26:02we talked to President Trump about the images
26:05that Xi Jinping would try to create
26:07he would try to make it seem
26:09like the leader of the free world, President Trump
26:11was coming to Beijing to kowtow
26:14you know, to the emperor, you know, to Xi Jinping
26:23picture yourself as Nero, the emperor of Rome
26:29and you want to impress somebody
26:31what would you do?
26:33it was everything you can imagine
26:39everything from music, to singing, to dancing
26:47they really pulled out all the stops and
26:52it was impressive
26:55perhaps most extraordinary
26:57Trump was invited to dine in the Forbidden City
27:04Forbidden City means forbidden
27:06so historically this is a residence of emperor
27:12this is an extraordinary honour
27:16Chinese are not even allowed to go
27:19so it's quite amazing to treat Trump that way
27:23that's something, we're having a great time
27:25thank you
27:27I don't believe Putin even get that treatment
27:31earlier that day, Xi had even given Trump a personal tour
27:36but not everyone was welcome
27:39as President Trump was about to be escorted through the Forbidden City
27:44before I understood what was happening
27:46I was diverted before I could get into the gate
27:52Matt Pottinger is like the man who knew too much
27:54and he really would make the Chinese leadership very uncomfortable
27:59I mean here's a guy, he was fluent in Mandarin
28:01and knew the Chinese Communist Party so well
28:04when we get to the Forbidden City
28:07I'm looking around, yep
28:08where's Matt Pottinger? He's not there
28:10the one guy who can actually speak the language
28:13and know something about this system
28:15has somehow been kept out
28:22the imperial setting was the perfect spot for Xi
28:25to give Trump an education on China's historic place in the world
28:30and I guess the oldest culture they say is Egypt at 8000
28:36IJ is older
28:38but the culture has never been stopped
28:41it's always been傳統, only China
28:46so this is your original form of Xi
29:08and people like Xi's Charm Offensive look to be working
29:13as the leaders and their team sat down in the Great Hall of the People
29:16Our meeting last night was absolutely terrific
29:23our dinner was beyond that
29:27Then, Trump turned to his team
29:30The president, after the first two or three statements
29:34asked me to address the trade issue
29:38I didn't have a script, I didn't know for sure that I would be called on
29:42Lighthizer is really the trade war warrior for many, many years
29:48so Chinese know that
29:49His basic argument is familiar
29:51but the way he presented is quite, I would say, quite aggressive
29:58from a Chinese point of view
30:01Lighthizer couched his presentation around the practices of forcing the transfer
30:06of intellectual property
30:08so he just went through many of these practices with such clarity
30:12I think it was arresting to Xi Jinping and the other officials there
30:18I basically made the argument that we were the victim here
30:22it wasn't China
30:23and it can't continue and it won't continue
30:27and I think that was a little befuddling
30:29like, what's going on here?
30:35But the Chinese hosts weren't done yet
30:38Trump had travelled to Beijing
30:40with dozens of American business leaders in tow
30:44In front of the cameras
30:46they signed more than $250 billion worth of deals with China
30:51China was quite generous to really make all those things happen
31:00and shows that China is really willing to collaborate with the US
31:03Dallas the president and CEO of Boeing commercial airplanes
31:06and Mr. Jia Baojun
31:08That was really a big boost for President Trump
31:11and he really had a big harvest for his first trip to China
31:16Donald Trump wanted to show the American people that
31:19during his visit to China he got something for, you know, America
31:24and this was something really tangible and right in his wheelhouse
31:30Now Trump had his chance to talk directly to the press
31:34I don't blame China
31:41After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country
31:48for the benefit of its citizens?
31:50I give China great credit
31:55He turns to Xi Jinping and goes, for all this here, I don't blame you, I blame us
32:01But in actuality, I do blame past administrations
32:06for allowing this out of control trade deficit to take place and to grow
32:12It was very Trumpian in that it was simultaneously gracious to the host
32:16but also had a sharp edge to it
32:19In spite of all the flattery and the rest, he was not going to back off his demands
32:24for a really significant shift in that economic relationship
32:28When that shift did not materialize, President Trump resorted to a trade war
32:34Here's what's on the power lunch menu
32:35President Trump hitting China with $60 billion worth of tariffs
32:40raising fears about a global trade war
32:42In March 2018, Lighthizer's report was published
32:46It says the economic harm to the US of unfair trade practices on intellectual property
32:52is in the range of $50 billion
32:54And so it plans to try to recoup some of that cost with these tariffs
32:59Trump announced tariffs on Chinese exports, particularly those the US said use stolen technology
33:08China would respond in kind, sparking a tit for tat escalation that spiraled over the coming months
33:14If they charge us, we charge them the same thing
33:20That's the way it's got to be
33:21Trump was smashing decades of Washington consensus on trade
33:27Earlier that month, Gary Cohn resigned
33:30The only thing the tariff was doing was acting as a consumption tax
33:38to the US consumer that bought that good from China
33:45I can remember talking with business leaders and investors
33:48many folks assuring me that there's no way these tariffs could stay on more than three or four months
33:55because it would be too harmful to the US economy
33:59And I can remember telling folks that I think we're actually much more in a new normal
34:04Just because they have a business model that works really well
34:07that the rest of the world should just stay static
34:11so that they can benefit from that
34:13that isn't a realistic perspective to have
34:16and that's tough to hear
34:17particularly when you're a powerful company
34:20you've been kind of a master of the universe
34:23but that's the reality
34:26Trump's team now had to face officials from Beijing
34:30The Chinese really were taken aback
34:33They didn't think that Trump would really go ahead with the tariffs
34:38They had a sense for a long time that it was a bluff
34:42You know, they had signed this $250 billion worth of deals just back in November
34:48You know, that was a serious amount of money
34:50and they thought, you know, they had done the necessary
34:53and didn't understand why, you know, it wasn't working
35:01As America and China braced for what could be a costly trade war
35:05Xi put on a show of strength
35:10Within weeks of the tariffs being announced
35:12he donned military fatigues to preside over a massive naval parade
35:17the largest of its kind ever conducted by the Chinese
35:22It took place in the South China Sea
35:24a crucial shipping corridor where China was building artificial islands to back up its claims on the area
35:32Claims rejected by most countries including the U.S.
35:38He says he wants a modernized military by 2035
35:40He wants a world-class military by 2049
35:46Which means pretty much he wants to displace the United States from the Indo-Pacific
35:51They want to defend all the waters surrounding China
35:54and manage the trade and everything passing through them
35:58This was China interrupting and trying to change international rules and norms
36:03that we felt that we couldn't tolerate
36:06The situation was becoming more and more dangerous
36:10as U.S. ships and aircraft continued what they called freedom of navigation exercises
36:17U.S. military aircraft, Powerade Alpha
36:20This is Chinese U.S. RIP
36:22China had 70 of the national islands including U.S. RIP
36:25and its adjusted waters
36:26Leave immediately and keep far off
36:28so as to avoid any misstanding
36:37Tensions were high as world leaders arrived in Argentina for the annual G20 summit
36:44It would be Trump and Xi's first meeting since Beijing
36:49The U.S. president had a new national security advisor
36:54I thought this was obviously a significant opportunity to make points about things that concerned us about China's aggressive behavior
37:05along its periphery
37:06and talk about the big strategic issues
37:10What Trump mostly wanted to talk about though was trade
37:15By now the U.S. had ramped up tariffs to hit $250 billion worth of Chinese goods
37:24Trump was threatening to go even higher
37:28But Bolton feared the prospect of a trade deal with China might soften Trump's resolve
37:37The two leaders met for dinner on the sidelines of the summit
37:42This was the first time I had seen them together
37:45It was unnerving to watch Xi in a very systematic thorough way advance what were clearly his well thought out
37:56objectives
37:57and to watch Trump wing it
38:01The relationship is very special, the relationship that I have with President Xi
38:06And I think that is going to be a very primary reason why we'll probably end up getting something
38:13Xi had come to the meeting with a headline grabbing pitch
38:17If the U.S. would hold off further tariffs
38:20China would commit to buying U.S. goods and services worth over a trillion dollars
38:27Chinese site, for example, Walmart and other successful retailers
38:32How they're successful because of Chinese made in China
38:37So that is what the argument they are making
38:40Saying you might end up hurting yourself
38:45I was worried throughout the dinner that we were basically going to agree to things
38:49And indeed, Trump did make concessions in terms of not putting tariffs in place that he had threatened
38:55So that we could have good trade discussions with China
39:00A truce in the trade war was agreed
39:06But just then, news came through that had the potential to undermine any goodwill
39:12I hear my phone ringing, I look down, and it's my colleague at the Justice Department
39:18And I don't normally get calls from the Justice Department
39:22And he informs me that they're going to exercise an arrest warrant against the Chief Financial Officer of Huawei
39:29As she goes through at Vancouver Airport
39:31I immediately think about how this is going to be interpreted as a deliberate snub and a deliberate affront to
39:39the Chinese counterparts
39:41And how this will throw a wrench into what the President is trying to achieve
39:45And let's get back to the big story this morning, weighing on futures with big implications for the U.S.-China
39:50trade truce and relationship
39:51Canada has arrested the CFO of Huawei, who also happens to be the daughter of the company's founder
39:55Meng's charges were part of a sweeping set of criminal charges by the Trump administration
40:00Unveiled yesterday, accusing the company of stealing trade secrets and violating sanctions
40:06We all hear the news, we were surprised
40:09Because Huawei is shaking hands on the table
40:13And the U.S. is kicking us back under the table
40:17We knew for some time before that Meng was coming
40:22It was imperative that not leak out
40:25John Bolton had been told that Meng's arrest was imminent just before the dinner with Xi
40:31He decided not to inform Trump until it was made public
40:36On the flight back to Washington
40:38I explained what had happened in Canada and what would flow from that
40:43He didn't really have much of a reaction to Meng's arrest when I briefed him on it
40:49Officially, the Chinese government isn't directly linking Meng's arrest to the trade negotiations just yet
40:56But unofficially in the state media, this is being seen as a political decision
41:06Trump had a Christmas dinner in the East Room for his top White House staff
41:11And at one point, out of nowhere, he said
41:14By the way, why did we arrest Meng, the Ivanka Trump of China?
41:20I thought maybe first I would say
41:22You didn't tell me that Ivanka was a spy and an agent of our government
41:27But I didn't, fortunately for me, probably
41:32Telecom's giant Huawei was a shining example of Xi's vision for China to dominate technologies of the future
41:40It had become a battleground with the Americans who placed restrictions on the company
41:45Citing fears China could use its equipment for spying
41:51Meng's high-profile arrest only raised the tensions
42:14With relations between the superpowers deteriorating, other countries were finding themselves caught in the crossfire
42:20And not just over Huawei
42:24The British Chancellor got a taste of this when he addressed that year's Belt and Road Forum
42:31The speech lauded the scale and ambition of the project and the Chinese delivery of it
42:38But said explicitly that if this is going to work, it's got to be very careful about the debt burdens
42:44that recipient countries are taking on
42:48I was invited to the heads of state lunch, which was hosted by President Xi
42:54And he just lashed into me saying this was none of my business
42:59And the Belt and Road was China's project and China would run it in the way that China chose to
43:06run it
43:07So it was quite a moment being given a finger-wagging lecture by President Xi
43:16Returning to London, Hammond would find that the fallout wasn't over
43:22So I get a call from the White House
43:25I get the Deputy National Security Advisor on the phone
43:29And he says, we'd like to talk to you about your speech
43:33We had seen a speech that Philip Hammond had just delivered
43:37That it appeared to be an endorsement of China's debt trap diplomacy
43:42So it was a bit cheeky, but one of my colleagues from the State Department
43:47Printed out Hammond's speech on a poster board
43:51With some of the key phrases that looked like they'd been taken straight from Beijing's propaganda highlighted
43:58A meeting was set up and somebody came over and arrived in my office in number 11
44:05He laid them out in my office in Downing Street along the wall
44:12So that all the text of the speech was there
44:15And I was asked by the Americans to justify the...
44:19To explain my thinking behind the less critical parts of that speech
44:27I'd said from the outset
44:30The UK cannot be in a position of having to choose between the world's largest economy
44:36And the world's second largest economy
44:38And that was what I told the Americans
44:41The response I got was
44:43That is exactly what the President of the United States wants you to do
44:47He wants you to choose
44:50And he wants you to choose America
44:56Trump now ramped up the pressure even more
44:58He signed an executive order preparing the ground for a total ban of Huawei equipment in US systems
45:07And the Americans set to work persuading other countries to follow suit
45:12Beginning with their closest ally
45:17We had to start with the UK because in many ways the UK's position as sort of a cyber security
45:23and telecommunications power, GCHQ
45:26Is seen as sort of world class
45:28And that was allowing, you know, everybody else to essentially point to and say
45:33Well GCHQ says it's okay, so why are you America making a big deal about this?
45:42The position of the British government was very strongly against making any significant changes to Huawei
45:49And we met with a lot of resistance
45:52Philip Hammond, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and others were very strong on that
45:59The message from the White House was
46:02Because we want Huawei out
46:04Get it out
46:05And tell these Europeans that they've got to toe the line
46:09The Chinese had made this a totemic issue
46:13That if we cut Huawei off
46:16There would be significant trade and other consequences
46:21And so we very much squeezed in the middle
46:26As Trump arrived for a long promised state visit
46:30The Brits hoped to convince the Americans that they could keep Huawei out of the most sensitive parts of their
46:36network
46:39Our security experts essentially said we've engineered the systems in a way that the Americans are overstating the risk
46:47We had very deep concerns and plenty of evidence that there were back doors, there were software and hardware vulnerabilities
46:57that would make it fairly easy for data to be siphoned out of those networks
47:04They thought they could protect telecommunications in Britain and we simply didn't agree with that
47:10There was this tension between our security experts
47:14Ours were clear that we could manage any risk from Huawei
47:19It was never in the core of our infrastructure, only in the periphery
47:23And they didn't agree
47:25Our main point is that this is not a technical discussion
47:30This is a policy discussion, right?
47:32We felt that they simply did not want to re-examine the decision because changing their decision that they had
47:39made before would likely entail retaliation by Beijing
47:45We explained to Trump how our network was configured differently from the American network
47:50That we were very confident that what we had was a robust system, but he was not listening
47:57In fact, most of the time when you engaged with the president, there was no sense that he was actually
48:03listening to what anybody else was saying
48:05He was simply preparing for the next sentence that he was going to say
48:12We said to each other that this is a foretaste Huawei
48:15We're going to be here a lot in the future
48:18We're going to find plenty of issues where the Chinese are squeezing us from one side and the Americans from
48:23the other
48:24Not just the UK, but all the middle-ranking powers
48:31The Brits stood firm on Huawei for now
48:35It was some of Trump's aides who worried their boss might not stick to his guns
48:42I felt that it was important to impress on Trump that if we were going to take strong measures against
48:48Huawei
48:49This was not something to give away later
48:51This had to be the beginning of a strong and consistent policy
48:56Because to Trump, everything is negotiable
48:59Everything is a bargaining chip
49:04While Trump was in the UK
49:07In Hong Kong, thousands joined a vigil to mark 30 years since China's deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in
49:15Beijing's Tiananmen Square
49:18The vigil took place in the midst of a growing wave of protests against a new law that would make
49:24extradition to mainland China easier
49:28Normally, every fifth anniversary of Tiananmen, the White House would put out a statement on behalf of the President
49:34And I had given Trump a draft statement that would commemorate the 30th anniversary
49:41And Trump said, I'm not going to put it out
49:43And I said, but we always put it out every five years
49:47And if you don't put it out, it will look like we're not concerned about what happened to Tiananmen
49:52Or what it represents for the future of China and Hong Kong
49:55And he said, I don't care
49:58Trump sees international relations through the prism of his personal relations
50:03He thought Xi would take offense if we put out a statement by the President on Tiananmen
50:08And he wasn't going to do it
50:12Within weeks, as the protests in Hong Kong grew
50:16The authorities responded with brutal force
50:25It was against this backdrop that Trump would next meet Xi at that year's G20 summit
50:37The U.S. President was facing further calls to confront him about Hong Kong and China's wider human rights record
50:44Including the treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang
50:48As he landed, he took a call from the Speaker of the House
50:53He said, well, since you're at the G20, you're in Asia
50:57Isn't it remarkable what's happening in Hong Kong?
51:01Millions of people are in the streets demonstrating for democracy
51:07I'm sure G20 won't say anything about that because Xi is there
51:13But I think it would be great if you could say something to him
51:16That the House and the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, have voted in favor of the Uyghurs
51:27There's always a summit dinner at these G20 summits
51:31And typically it's just the leader of each country and their spouse if they're there
51:37One of my staff talked to the U.S. interpreter who was with Trump
51:42Who reported that he had a conversation with Xi Jinping
51:46And talked about the Uyghurs
51:47And Xi defended against charges that these are essentially concentration camps
51:53And he said the Uyghurs appreciated it, they liked it, it was a good thing to do
51:58And Trump basically said, well then go ahead and do it
52:03Next day he calls me back and he said, I mentioned Muslims to President Xi
52:10And he said they like being in those labor camps
52:19China's record on human rights was never going to be top of Trump's agenda
52:24Trade negotiations had ground to a halt and election year was fast approaching
52:30A trade deal with China could be a vote winner in the manufacturing and agricultural heartlands of America
52:37You know we've had a excellent relationship
52:41But we want to do something that will even it up with respect to trade
52:47I think it's something that's actually very easy to do
52:51Trump basically said to Xi, look I want to win this election and I need the farmers vote and you
52:56can help me out on that
52:58And indeed the trade negotiation then turned into how many tons of soy beans are they going to buy next
53:06year
53:07At that point the trade is mostly focused on Chinese buying things
53:13Okay
53:14On a massive scale
53:16The international situation and the US has also been a huge change in the world
53:21The international situation and the US has also been a huge change in the world
53:22But the basic fact has never changed
53:25That is the US are both sides of the world
53:28And the US are both sides of the world
53:29And the war is a huge change in the world
53:31Xi Jinping had great skill in flattering Trump
53:33And Trump responded as he often did with flattery of his own
53:40So he took to calling Xi king
53:45And in Osaka it got even worse
53:47He told him at one point you're the greatest leader in contemporary Chinese history
53:53And 30 seconds later he said you're the greatest leader in all of Chinese history
53:57So we waited to see how Xi would respond to Trump
54:02But he didn't call him the greatest leader in all American history
54:06He just pocketed it and the conversation went on
54:19At home Xi appeared more powerful than ever
54:23Later that year he took center stage as the Chinese Communist Party
54:28Celebrated 70 years of rule in China
54:32A statement of power in the face of the Hong Kong protests
54:37Jiang tim
54:38Xi Jinping
54:48Xi Jinping
54:53Xi Jinping
54:54Xi Jinping
55:00Unlike Trump, Xi didn't have to worry about elections
55:05In fact, China had abolished term limits, meaning he could now remain president for life.
55:14And when it came to negotiating with Trump, the Chinese were increasingly confident that by playing the long game, they
55:21would ultimately win out.
55:24China understood Trump's way of operating as a professional wrestler.
55:32Start opening Sabo, it's always outrageous, frightening.
55:38If you chicken out, then he will push even more.
55:42If you know you have capacity to stand up, he will come down.
55:49While Xi was parading his military might, his negotiators were putting the final touches to a trade deal with Trump.
55:57It was optimistically named the Phase One Agreement.
56:01Trump would sign it with China's vice premier to much fanfare.
56:06The U.S. agreed to ease tariffs on China.
56:11In return, China pledged to buy hundreds of billions of dollars of U.S. goods.
56:17But Trump didn't get the major concessions on China's trade practices he talked about on coming to office.
56:24It's a relief from the Chinese side because we had a very, we have a tension, you know.
56:31And January 2020, it's less than one year ahead of the general election.
56:36We believe we would have a relatively stable bilateral relations in that year.
56:48It's important to remind yourself that it's not possible to have an agreement between the United States and China
56:57that's going to resolve the problem of a Marxist-Leninist country that wants to be the number one country in
57:03the world.
57:03It's like you can't imagine an agreement between the United States or the West and Soviet Union
57:10that would have resolved the fact that they want to take over the world and we don't want them to,
57:15right?
57:15Today, we take a momentous step, one that has never been taken before with China.
57:22But what these agreements can do is stop movement towards a hot war, which would be a catastrophe.
57:27Nobody's ever seen anything like it.
57:29This is the biggest deal there is anywhere in the world by far.
57:34Trump had his deal.
57:37But as he talked it up, the world was about to be hit by a catastrophe that few saw coming.
57:43One that would bring the U.S. and China closer than ever to a new Cold War.
57:50China plague. That's where it comes from.
57:53They say, please don't mention China.
57:55I say, why? That's where it comes from.
57:58I remember President Trump telling me that if he did 100 trade deals with China,
58:04it still wouldn't make up for the losses that COVID had inflicted on the United States.
58:10In the next episode, as a global pandemic rocks the U.S.-China relationship,
58:17the race for technological supremacy ramps up.
58:22And the stakes are raised as one of America's leading figures crosses a Chinese red line.
58:29You have to understand whether it's going to Tiananmen Square or going to Taiwan.
58:33You cannot let somebody else decide where you're going.
58:39This is the closest moment of a military encounter.
58:45My understanding is that 20% of the Chinese did not sleep at that night.
58:50She's going to tell us where we can go?
58:52I don't think so.
58:57And you can watch the next episode right now on BBC iPlayer.
59:02Also there, AI Confidential with Hannah Fry.
59:05Extraordinary human stories from the high-tech frontier.
59:09Watch now.
59:10Inside a publishing scandal with a new podcast on sounds,
59:14Secrets of the Salt Path.
59:16Listen now.
59:21Transcription by ESO.
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