China: A New World Order

He's a leader like no other.

Commander of a formidable military.

President of a rising superpower.

This series tells the story

of Chinese President Xi Jinping's six-year rule.

He heads an economy that is now crucial to all of us.

Hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty.

China was clearly going to be the great source of growth

in the global economy, and we want a part of that.

For years, world leaders have sought to work with him

to solve some of the most pressing issues of our time.

When we work together, it's good for the United States,

it's good for China and it is good for the world.

But in the West, there's growing anxiety about how President Xi's

China is extending its power.

Now media reports have suggested that the Chinese Communist Party

has been working covertly to interfere

with the decisions of elected representatives.

I think Australia is, in many ways, the canary in the coal mine.

In the US, the talk is no longer for cooperation.

We will have to accept some more tension with China,

some more confrontation with China.

And Xi is now facing the biggest ever challenge to his authority.

After years of tension,

pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong have taken to the streets.

We don't want Hong Kong to become China.

We want our freedom.

Xi Jinping has transformed his country.

He could be President for the rest of his life.

So what does that mean for China and the rest of the world?

Xi Jinping has a dream.

China has to be strong, China has to be powerful,

China's has to have its future in its own hands.

The bottom line that I learned in dealing with China

is do not trust them. Do not trust them.

APPLAUSE

In a few moments, the United Kingdom's responsibilities

will pass to the People's Republic of China.

We shall not forget you,

and we shall watch with the closest interest

as you embark on this new era of your remarkable history.

In 1997, Hong Kong's 6.5 million population

was handed over to China after 155 years of British rule.

I think we handed over to China

a very successful, thriving economy,

a free society.

And China made lots of promises to us that in the future,

the democratic changes that we'd put in train

would be continued, and that Hong Kong would be responsible

for working out its own legislative arrangements.

The Union Flag and the Hong Kong flag will now be lowered,

and the national flag of the People's Republic of China

and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region flag

will be raised.

God Save The Queen

The British struck a deal with China's ruling Communist Party

that allowed Hong Kong to govern itself for 50 years

with minimal interference from Beijing.

Under the deal, known as one country, two systems,

Hong Kong was meant to have free elections.

I think we all hoped that, even though it would be a bit difficult

to make it work, that it would work reasonably well and ensure

that Hong Kong remained one of the freest cities in Asia.

I think that's changed since Xi Jinping.

One year into Xi's presidency,

the deal with the British came unstuck.

China said that Hong Kongers could elect

a chief executive, but they would only be able to vote

for candidates approved by a special committee

that was widely seen as pro-Beijing.

Protest on this scale is rare in Hong Kong,

but these students are determined to get Beijing's attention.

Its promise of one person one vote...

..rendered meaningless, they complain,

by its plan for screening election candidates.

They're now planning civil disobedience

if this protest doesn't work.

We want a true democracy.

We want genuine universal suffrage for Hong Kong.

University professor Benny Tai was one of the protest leaders.

APPLAUSE

PROTESTORS CHEER

As night fell, the crowd swelled,

sending Beijing a message that they're a post-colonial generation

who won't put up with exchanging one set of masters for another.

It was Hong Kong people fighting for democracy,

regardless of the severe suppression from the Beijing government.

Nathan Law was a leading student protestor.

It's one of the busiest intersections in Hong Kong.

I remember that there were lots of actions,

that the police blocked

the people, and conflicts happened.

SHOUTING

The police response was uncompromising.

A few minutes ago,

there was tear gas canisters going off in this crowd.

There's still a catch in the throat, a sting in the eye.

But right now, an uneasy standoff between the riot police on this side

and the crowd on the other.

As the demonstrations grew in size, the police pulled back.

Protesters, who were openly defiant of the authorities in Hong Kong

and Beijing, occupied parts of the city.

In the heart of a global financial centre,

a new day dawns on Hong Kong's democracy movement.

We saw college students, even high school kids,

risking imprisonment to send a message to Beijing,

asking for Western-style democratic reforms.

The demonstrators paralysed parts of the city for weeks.

The Government's clearly decided to let weariness, divisions

and public indignation drive the Umbrella Movement out.

The government made no concessions.

After two and a half months, the protests came to an end.

Expecting arrest, Benny decided to hand himself in.

In the years that followed,

the protesters continued to call for democracy,

but President Xi appeared impervious to their demands.

He actually took the opposite direction

of what the students had demanded.

And we have seen, progressively,

a tighter grip by Beijing on Hong Kong affairs.

He's really trying to develop a kind of virtual wall around Hong Kong.

He's trying to rewrite the history books and political science books.

I think the ultimate destination for Hong Kong in Xi Jinping's mind

is basically as an economically thriving,

politically quiescent mainland Chinese city.

APPLAUSE/MILITARY BAND PLAYS

On the 20th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China,

President Xi arrived for a three-day visit,

and then there was a carefully timed announcement

from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

SHOUTING

Tens of thousands of people poured onto the streets

to demonstrate against what they feared President Xi was doing

to Hong Kong.

But the protests made little difference.

Hong Kong belongs to China.

In other words, Hong Kong's entire sovereignty is part of China.

If Hong Kong doesn't have its own sovereignty,

the kind of democracy we understand, or explained by the Western media,

obviously is unrealistic.

If President Xi wants to say,

"You can't trust anything my predecessors did,

"you can't trust me. You can't trust China to keep its word

"in international treaties,"

then I guess we have to take that rather seriously.

It's very disappointing the way that Xi Jinping

has clamped down on Hong Kong's freedoms.

And I think we're getting close to the point

where we can say that Hong Kong is no longer

one country, two systems.

The Chinese Government says that the people of Hong Kong

enjoy unprecedented democratic rights

and extensive freedom rarely seen in other parts of the world,

and that the past two decades have fully proved

that one country, two systems

is the best institutional arrangement

for Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability.

It says what happens in Hong Kong is purely an internal affair for China.

China's approach to Hong Kong

reflected a new and more assertive foreign policy.

For decades, China had followed a rule -

hide your power and bide your time.

But under President Xi, that had changed.

APPLAUSE

Xi Jinping is saying, "Now's the time. We're ready.

"We have the strength. We see weakness

"in the other leading countries, and we will use all of these elements

"of national power so that China

"can retake its rightful place not only in Asia

"but in the world itself."

China is certainly going to challenge

America's place in the world.

China does not believe in the Western liberal democracy model.

China is forging its own model.

So, yes, in that sense, it will be a real rival, a real competitor.

Leon Panetta, as US Defense Secretary,

had developed a friendship with Xi Jinping,

but his initial optimism about US-China relations

was now fading.

While we were concerned about Russia,

Al-Qaeda, threats from North Korea,

China was operating below the radar,

and coming at us in a number of directions.

The bottom line that I learned in dealing with China

is do not trust them.

Do not trust them.

And always suspect

that they are making efforts to undermine your stability.

If you do that,

then I think you can ultimately find a way to deal with China.

If you don't do that,

then you're going to be overwhelmed.

What was alarming the Americans was China's growing economic power.

President Xi was using it to expand his country's

influence around the world.

China's rise has been one of the most peaceful in history

in terms of a nation that is challenging the economic status

of the largest and most powerful nation.

At the heart of Xi's foreign policy was a trillion-dollar economic

plan called Belt and Road, building infrastructure in countries that