Foreign Correspondent: July 1

This week on Foreign Correspondent is “Clash of the Titans” a two part report by Bill Birtles on US-Chinese relations.

This month China celebrates the centenary of its ruling Communist Party.

The CCP boasts it has delivered unprecedented prosperity to its citizens but under President Xi Jinping relations with rival superpower, the US, have sunk to a near all-time low.

Presented by China correspondent Bill Birtles, this timely two-part series gains special access to both nations to explore the deeper forces pushing US-Chinese relations to the brink.

The escalating trade war between the two countries, the bitter war of words over China’s human rights abuses against the Uyghur minority and the crushing of democracy in Hong Kong are all current flashpoints in the conflict.

But what are the historical causes underlying this widening rift?

We go inside China to hear about the ‘Century of Humiliation’ – a period during which a weakened, imperial China was colonised and exploited by mainly Western powers.

“We must all try our utmost to avoid any war,” says cultural bureaucrat Yan He. “But if it comes to that, you must act in self-defence. You must protect what is yours.”

The sacking of the old Summer Palace by British and French forces during the Opium Wars has become a cautionary tale for Chinese school children.

“This is evidence that if China falls behind, we will be beaten up,” says author Karoline Kan. “The lesson for many Chinese is that we must develop the country and be self-reliant.”

In America, we look at how the loss of manufacturing jobs to China and economic decline in the “rust belt” states has led to an increase in poverty.

The Trump presidency ramped up the belief that China was the cause of America’s economic woes, also blaming China for the COVID pandemic, which lead to the deaths of over half a million people.

“There is no end in sight in terms of the damage to the economy….China is a convenient scapegoat,” says Yukon Huang, a former World Bank executive.

Equally China has been whipping up anti-American sentiment, accusing it of meddling in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and trying to block its rise to superpower status.

“We will not move to the beats of villains and not put up with their wickedness,” says China’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Le Yucheng, in a rare interview.

President Biden is increasing the pressure too. “We’re in competition with China…to win the 21st century,” he declared.

The tensions between the Titans are set to escalate.

Thursday 1 July at 8pm on ABC.