spain is easing one of the world's toughest lockdowns prime minister pedro sanchez says he will open borders to foreign tourists from july. despite that announcement some spaniards have taken to the streets to protest the government's handling of the pandemic. you're watching g.w. news don't forget you can keep up to date with all the latest news on our website. and you can also follow us on twitter and instagram too there will be more news at the top of the hour for now though i'm erin chilton thanks for watching. the u.s. versus china d.w. is richard walker explores the origins and consequences of the emerging crisis hallway of ours who entered into a new cold war talks with experts from around the world and the possibility of conflict is not to meet this in a small u.s.

cities it is turning back on china on its feet it's going to be a very dangerous year a new cold war. on t.w. . in the height of climate change. africa's most of. what's in store for players to be used for their future in the. culture for the major cities to go to get insight. culture. or to welcome so betty extraordinary nursing professionals as we celebrate their tional nurses day especially cation in the white house national nurses day is a moment to one of the people on the front lines of the pandemic. don't trump is here to say thank you and sign a declaration while the nurses will go to look very moderate or go as he. to the

press a reporter asks a question about the economy in his answer trump turned his fire on china framing the spread of the coronavirus like a military attack this is one of the worst attacks we've ever had this is worse than pearl harbor this is worse than the world trade center it's never been attacked like this. and it should have never happened could have been stopped at the source could have been stopped in china it should have been stopped right at the source. and it wasn't of course we're all used to donald trump mouthing off that's his trademark but this is important this matters to all of us whether you live here in europe or anywhere in the world the 2 most powerful countries on earth a slipping deeper and deeper into a profound form of conflict some are even calling it a new cold war and just like the corona virus itself this has the power to define our age. from the military to technology the economy to political

influence to bribery between the u.s. and china is intensifying in just about every well of human existence now the outbreak of the corona virus in china and it spreads around the world has taken tensions to a new extreme. i think charm of u.s. relations with. 'd historical sense trying on the u.s. as the established diplomatic ties in the past 4 decades bickering state in their very serious. and very dire i think we're at a point where tensions by the actual tensions are really really high i think it's going to be a very dangerous year and the world is going to have to face up to some very important choices who are european friends to decide what they stand for we are allies with them now what about last march look we just protheroe.

open incapable to be the world groups like sheep it will be all of us to realize. where our heart is in areas that there were business interests or is it towards imbali years and at some point will have to make a choice now one thing in this story that's so important to emphasize is that this clash between the united states and china isn't just about the coronavirus to pantomimic we're living through right now can seem so pervasive who says if it's a reset and everything but these tensions between the u.s. and china have much deeper roots so this video we're not just going to ask what's going on now we're going to dig down and find out what lies beneath and finally we're going to ask what's coming next always about to enter into a new cold war. january

2020 is just a few months ago but it feels like another era donald trump going to davos and hailed his relations with his chinese counterpart xi jinping you very much a relationship with china right now has probably never been better we went through a very rough patch but it's never ever been better my relationship with president xi is an extraordinary one he's for china and for the u.s. but other than that we love each other. trump was buoyant tough to so i mean what was being called a phase one trade deal with china easing tensions have made a long running trade war to trump himself it started even as the covert $1000.00 outbreaks prating february trip was still flattering xi jinping running for very hard labor last night out of character for the president he. would talk about mostly about the coronavirus they were really hard and i think they're doing

a very professional job but soon the outbreak hit the united states with full force . new york became one of the worst hot spots in the world and the trumpet ministration came under massive fire for failing in its response. at the same time evidence was mounting that china hadn't been open about the early days of the outbreak losing crucial time that could have saved lives and speculation even crew about whether a special laboratory in blue harm was the source of the virus so as the political pressure has intensified on the trumpet ministration donald trump has seized on china as the true villain of the coronavirus crisis china should be held responsible for what they've done. they have hurt the world very very badly they've hurt themselves also but they've hurt the world very very badly. and with the election campaign looming groups who put out ads attacking china and linking it to

his opponent joe biden the message don't blame us for what's going on blame china the data suggest that it might be effective 2 thirds of americans have a negative view of china a figure that's risen higher and higher in recent years all this is the backdrop to those comments we saw making when meeting those nurses at the white house. this is worse than pearl harbor this is worse than the world trade center there's never been an attack like this china for its part has been firing back all the fendi that make all. don't quite act towards him being too showy and when he changes back property that yoko you'll see to the ensure that it's turning into a better blame game played by both sides what did i do think is interesting between us in this whole blame china strategy is that the chinese also have a plane u.s.

strategy. melissa chan reported from china for al-jazeera for several years before her credentials for a vogue she now works for a number of outlets including d.w. news asia and some of their diplomats have come out to say and blame the united states as being the ones who created this virus during a military game international military games that was held in china they are accusing. the americans of having brought the bars to china to hand and so you have this geo political spat where both sides are arguing sometimes based on what appears to be unsubstantiated conspiracy theory we've been speaking to analysts in both china and the u.s. about this and of course they have very different perspectives but there's one thing that they do agree on relations have never been this bad but i think the charm of us relation is of the historical sense try and us as the established

diplomatic ties. for decades when who yo heads the center for china and globalization think tank in beijing and has close ties to the chinese government there is a wide. consensus 'd among. got officers here in china and got more among business community that somehow us on a more. it's back on china and the current state is they're very serious and it's very dire i think we're at a point where tensions bilateral tensions are really really high. now there's a lot of views us china relations from a transatlantic perspective she spent 20 years as a china expert at the french ministry of defense now she's based at a us think tank she points out that the coronavirus crisis isn't just putting the trumpet ministration under political pressure but beijing too and that adds to the

danger if there is a prospect a recession in the next few months and then there's always the possibility that the regime will want to deflect the pressure the internal pressure on something else and the possibility of conflict is not at to be dismissed unfortunately that would be of course various cattery and their risks will be enormous all this tension already goes way beyond angry statements and tweets this has real consequences right now things that could matter in the fight against the coronavirus the u.s. pulled funding from the world health organization accusing it of being too cozy with beijing it was a dramatic move for an example of how the trumpet ministration has broken with america's previous global approach to crises like this the last pandemic that we are. told in africa and at that time the

united states took a leading role internationally to who organized efforts to push back to fight against all. high and hard booty call for is a veteran german member of the european parliament and leads the parliament's delegation on china. today there is no not even 'd a good and attempt to show leadership on the part of the united states china sees not everybody sees that and china tries to exploit that meanwhile the pandemic is exposed to america's dependence on china face sensual medical supplies this is fueled talk of a major we think decoupling of america's economy from its deep ties with china. and so much trump has egg this on in one of his most striking comments so far he's even raised the prospect of a complete detachment between the u.s. and chinese economy. in an interview with the fox business channel he said we

could cut off the whole relationship now if you did what would happen we'd say $500000000000.00 made no explanation of that figure but even by his standards this was a radical thing to suggest cutting us really cut all ties with china well we'll get to that question later on in the video 1st there is dig down to the roots of the current crisis. 'd 'd 'd 'd 'd 'd 'd the story begins 40 years ago with this man done shopping he took power in beijing after the death of mao to dong in the late 1970 s. began to develop an economy that had been crippled by decades of communist experiments throughout dung stuck to a modest approach to china's role in the world outside effectively don't stick your neck out bernie don't shopping we 'd recorded history is one of the extraordinary

figures of the history of the 20th century for more straight and prime minister kevin rudd remembers that time he worked at the australian embassy in beijing in the 1980 s. it took this maoist rick otherwise called china in the courtroom illusion and threw a internal party coup took out the maoist ideologues and instead inserted what's known as a pretty magic economic program domestically or internationally which turbocharged china's economic growth economic development didn't mean an end to oppression for tennant square massacre in the end of dunc's time in 1909 brought the condemnation of the world done to dung success. it's china's economic growth continues with the return of hong kong from british rule in 1997 it gained a significant new stepping stone into the world economy and you could see the 21st

century so far as the incredible story of china's rise to become a global power but what's really striking if you look at a timeline of the last 20 years is milestone after milestone where china took a step forward and the united states stumbled. in december 2001 china joined the world trade organization it was the key moment in becoming part of the world economy joining the w t o provided a massive boost to growth in investment and triggered a boom in low cost manufacturing as firms from around the world turn to china so what was happening in america at the end of 2001 it was reeling from the $911.00 attacks and launching into 2 decades of war that still haven't fully ended today.

fast forward to august 2008 and china was in the limelight as never before the beijing olympics were like a coming out party for an ever more confident power. just 3 weeks later lehman brothers went bankrupt intensifying the worst financial crisis since the great depression the world economy took a huge hit but the impact was deepest in the west and for the 1st time china's economy played a significant role in powering the world back to recovery so you can see these years in the aftermath of the financial crisis is the time when the balance of power between the u.s. and china was shifting. quietly but significantly. the american economy was in deep trouble and the federal government was borrowing massive amounts of money to keep it afloat here too china played an active role within 3 years

of the lehman crash china more than doubled its holdings of u.s. federal government debt becoming the biggest foreign lender to the united states at well over one trillion dollars even some of america's success stories have chinese d.n.a. the i pod an i phone for instance where manufactured in china is ever more sophisticated factories. so things were looking pretty good for china when this man became its new lead in 24 team sheet you paid close to power just as china's economy was overtaking americans in a key measure of purchasing power. to jumping is an absolutely pivotal figure in this story is accession to power mark the moment that china really shifted up a gear from that primarily economic development that began

a generation earlier don't show pain to something much more assertive much more consequential for the rest of the world in one of his 1st big speeches he spoke of the chinese dream. right. your mom. would you be sure. to hear if you. will not. be for all this was a confidence to say that china success was no accident that it didn't happen despite being all thora tarion power but because of it couple of vi's in beijing one who says that china's track record against democratic neighbor india proves the point. certainly. not chance. so so so china's the world turns far they just want to work to a. more. acceptable a bit more tolerant just

a few months into xi jinping is time in office there was another of those moments where you saw america's stumbling just as china moved ahead. for a time in autumn 2013 the us didn't even have a functioning government american politics had become so divided the congress couldn't agree on how to fund basic services to be simply shut down american political system was breaking under intense polarization the fallout from a decade of war and financial crises. around the same time she chimping was in jakarta where he announced china's most ambitious project ever he called it one belt one road evocatively named after the historic silk trading which. built and rode was a monumental plan to connect the infrastructure china's rest of asia and beyond

just to europe and africa the message look at what we've built in china it's bringing 90. 2 project let loose hundreds of billions of dollars worth of chinese investment particularly into bella pain countries it was especially attractive to governments with patchy records on governments and human rights with the signal funding would come without western strings attached that meant that china wasn't just exporting infrastructure it was exporting its way doing things to what they're saying is you know it works for us so you don't have to choose a liberal democracy for your own countries if you don't want to because our own example proves that you can. somehow like us. and be successful too and not only that but through the belt and read initiative. we china are going to be able to help you grow economically

through the distribution of loans or investments and and we're not going to look at. your political records or your human rights records or your transparency or your anti corruption levels in your own country where we were not interested in that and that message has found a huge number of takers over the past 7 years with more than $100.00 countries joining belsen wrote it one way or another it's creating a growing block of nations many of which have become highly dependent on china for economic growth and development what you call the global sphere of influence china wants to poor smaller and weaker countries into its own orbit. and create some sort of sino centric sphere of influence what trai now wants out of those countries is a level of. a level of respect

a level of deference. but this deference and respect is not just symbolic i think it's it has real concrete implications those implications can be onerous and sri lanka discovered it's been a hot spot a bill to break investment with his debts to beijing mounting ceded control of a key seaport to china for 99 years their fear is that similar fates could awake governments in other parts of the world and what's more that sphere of influence doesn't just have financial implications they're political too. because of this enormous. leverage our economy leverage that china has over other countries none of these countries will or governments will want to go against china's well you see it's it's it's not just a symbolic deference it's also a very it has

a very concrete application to how china is one you know acting and behaving and other countries are basically paralyzed because they don't have any ways to go against. to go against it so belsen road is a potentially huge source of power and influence for china around the developing world the list take a look at the map again this is not just developing countries that are joining in just last year in europe italy greece and portugal all signed up to the project xi jinping has received a great fanfare as he toured his new partners capitals place is still feeling the aftereffects of the 2008 financial crisis and now the economic crash caused by the pandemic has made them more desperate than ever for sources of growth these countries are in the european union there are nato 2 core members of the western

alliance now forging closer ties with china china's for a scene to europe don't stop there as we saw in a recent video it's made highly publicized deliveries of supplies to many european countries during the coronavirus crisis seen as an attempt to patch up its image of the outbreak began on its soil. and in another initiative called 17 plus one china has created a platform for cooperation with the swathe of central and eastern european countries from the baltics to the balkans most of them young democracies tempted by the prospect of chinese investment. on the military front. china's been a functioning rapidly to it's been strengthening its foothold in the strategically central south china sea here the united states has been pushing back frequently sending warships through the region to assert its freedom to use the waterways but

in every realm of military power china continues to advance the fundamentals of china's economic power have pushed for now extraordinary military breech. in conventional military capabilities and cyber capabilities now before what about political development at any signs that china is opening up politically as it has done economically well here the answer is a very clear no. pro-democracy protests in hong kong have only seen beijing tighten its grip on the territory raising concerns that it won't on of the agreement signed when it regained control of the former british colony. and in the western region of shin jang the muslim minority we go population is undergoing repression on an epic scale this many as a 1000000 people subjected to real education camps d.w. has reported on systematic abuses revealed in leaked documents far from opening

china's politics up xi jinping has tightened its authoritarian system and he's consolidated his own power removing limits so that he could potentially rule for life since she can bring out taken control of well all things chinese in charlotte on the mainland. china house see what could be described as amounting to a kind of reaching change collective leadership term limits for the top decision as certain small never of well i don't want to say liberty but out allowing civil society to find neat churches in which it could play an active role. at least

addressing human rights issues all about hass than ishtar and his china's global ambitions growth that commitment to its all for a tarion model has more and more implications for the rest of the wealth she chimping doesn't only try to be a global leader it tries to be a global bully this leadership obviously finds that if they push harder they can establish a worse china centric order than would have been conceivable 101520 years ago. so what was happening in the us since we last checked in well those political divisions that we saw forcing a government shutdown back in 2035 only got deeper and deeper. the election of donald trump in 2016 brought that to its logical conclusion and paul so much attention has focused on either russia helped him to win you could argue that action or his victory was all about china. i covered that 2016 election as one of

the w.'s u.s. correspondents and i went to a lot of donald trump rallies and everywhere he went every time he spoke he always talks about china his views on this deeply held trump has been remarkably consistent about china or someone who's known for being fairly inconsistent if you look at his rhetoric in the 1980 s. it wasn't china that was the man it was japan but it's clear that he has a certain view on trade where he believes that certain countries take advantage of the united states and are takers are exports to the united states and have really benefited from american consumers and what he's done in terms of his rhetoric with china is essentially transferred his point of view in 1980 s. talking about japan and made it a china issue and you could see that when he was on the campaign trail in 2016 so he can point to the historical past and say i have been warning you guys about

china all a lot we need to be tough on china so little wonder trumps trade with china has been one of the defining features of his presidency so far. so let's take stock for a moment of where things stood when the coronavirus hit. in the last 7 years under xi jinping china has become an undisputed economic superpower and has rolled out a global spear of economic and political influence its military power is rapidly. growing and far from backing down on its belief in the thora tarion government it thinks it's been proven right and offers it success as a model to the world a model that says you don't need democracy to get ahead. and meanwhile in the us years of war financial meltdown and political dysfunction culminated in the election of donald trump

a man who's made it his mission to take the fight to china we've ended up with 2 leaders in the united states and china which are now distinctly nationalist. president trump make america great again. and president xi jinping who has discarded dones helpings cautionary advice about high fuel strength by 2 time so therefore the dynamics of these 2 leaderships has made the structural factors at work 'd even sharper if you look to some people in the truck administration. oh slick there parkville for instance it's tending towards loud confrontation so what now is this all pointing to a new cold war. it's november 28th seen an attack is underway in karate pakistan.

the target the chinese consulate in the city. police blame separatists from the state of the law stand. there down on the coast china is developing one of the most important projects in the belton road initiative the giant port complex of the city of wada the site itself has been the target of attacks to. what is an absolutely crucial piece of infrastructure for china a direct foothold in the arabian sea connected all the way to cash in china's shin chung region why are militant attacks in pakistan even relevant to our story well think about it so far we've been talking about belts and roads it's an economic political initiative that the more assets china has out in far flung parts of the

world the more it's going to want to keep them safe and that's where bell to row takes on more of a military dimension nowadays holo explains they're looking at different ways to deal with the security risks so how it is for example what happened in pakistan which is subcontracting the pakistani army and the military pakistani military forces specific create your protect the china pakistan economy corridor and so you have several thousands of pakistani soldiers 4 are devoted to the protection of the workers the chinese workers and the project along that corridor so you already have china's subcontracting a special division of pakistan's army looking to the future former prime minister of australia kevin rudd foresees a more active role for china's own military in protecting belts and road will be

are rife short i think one of the things we have to be very careful monitoring is what now happens with b r i mean the states new extent which china moves to militarize those relationships for example both in south east asia. and across the so called string of pearls that is. maritime bases in the in the indian ocean straits politically in sri lanka in bangladesh but also 'd in pakistan and now prospective in iran and already in djibouti in the red sea where china is beginning to 4 deploy naval and air assets and peace and a source of assets where belton broke returning to a staging ground for a cold war style confrontation with united states. so under those circumstances if we begin to see the american push back in those that country says then it's not

a large gap between what we now have which is an emerging as it were a diplomatic chasm for that to become a chasm of assuming more military characteristics it seems to have so many acros of the last cold war between the united states and the soviet union there is one fundamental difference between then and now in the 20th century cold war the american and russian economies have virtually no ties with each other in the 21st century between the u.s. and china that has very different they do a lot of business together and the characterization of given the u.s. china relationship in the future of the post curve in order is called war 1.5 and the reason i choose that term is because 'd the one differential between. the previous cold war with the soviet union and the current the strangeness of the people's republic of china is a degree of a good economic good of connectedness between china and the us. that

interconnectedness lettering i phones will endorse any kinds of goods and services has been a key economic story of the past 2 decades decoupling as the expression goes would involve massive disruption on both sides 70000 us stop in china and generally in some 100100 1000000000 euros down roughly where you are in china for example. sells more cars in china than in the u.s. and china's largest market also at u.s. so so the economy is not that easy but some decoupling is already happening the u.s. has banned american firms from working but the chinese 5 g. mobile networks giant while away and as the pandemic drags on more and more sectors might bring that. supply chains back home if finance gets hit by the decoupling trying to that could mean a much bigger break that is starting to unravel not just in trade through the trade

was not just through technology where the united states is trade union critically restrictive approaches not just in 5 g. but prospectively in financial markets as well and if the economic ties and bind unravel then you begin to look at the characteristics of the cold war we've been through once before they would talk and so no trump is threatening to push down that road to economic decoupling remember the interview with fox business that we flashed up earlier where he talked about cutting off the whole relationship with china and said it would even save hundreds of billions of dollars you can just imagine that becoming a centerpiece of trump's reelection campaign this year bring back all that business from china to rebuild the u.s. economy post coronavirus and make america crisis again as for china well over in beijing wang her yellow says it's ready fantasy. us use force in.

the couple in it's going to 1st hurt us companies 2nd they're going to help china it's going to help china on through. all china is venture me develop knowledge and system you may slow down some but the country will you overcome this is what a new cold war could look like with the u.s. and china severing more and more toys economic and political and retreating into their own spheres of influence the us and its western allies on one side and china and belsen road on the other and just like the last cold war this could mean that the rest of the world has to decide which side won this is a night mess enough. for europe in particular its economy has become even more into links with china than america's had at the level of economic and vocal distrusts

huge germany although exports more to china than the u.k. france italy spain and the netherlands combined. to some on the outside europe has just been coasting along. where european friends need to decide what they stand for. europe's historical policy with. engaging 'd with china has been. periodic league complain about human rights make as much money as you can and. consigning any security policy now concerns the united states and its specific hours the european union has started to toughen its tone on china a year ago it came out with a new strategy paper they described as 3 part relationship with china one based on partnership competition but also systemic rivalry. the 2 sides have been

preparing for a may just summit on investment between europe and china later this year one where europe wanted to demand a more level playing field for european companies doing business in china. that summer has been thrown up in the air by the pandemic and there are questions about just how tough europe will be on huawei for example the e.u. has not followed america's lead with a ban has just recommended the member states limit who always access to the most sensitive parts of the 5 g. network individual european countries are free to take a harder line if they want to see the german m.e.p. gritty call for says that germany should do so let's check whether all the bases of national security to serve the logical the clinton's to concerned it's a screwed approach to a lot always the fight you know and i have long come to the conclusion that this

would mark. but while way is now trying to sweeten the deal saying it will build a 5 g. equipment factory in france and has beijing continues to nurture relationships with european states there are doubts that europe will be able to unite around tough decisions involving china. this is a way for maging to be able to make sure that. europe is they rioted. in some and because in europe and in the us based on on the need for a consensus speak before you take in a decision and the level you need just one country not to agree on this consensus to be able to. discard or to disregard a joint posture in societies and and countries where we still

haven't fully emerged from the aftermath of their financial crisis of 20082000 i i mean these economy go for 3 keys that china is putting on the table on the table can be quite battle in this is the next enormous leverage that beijing has and of the station of these countries so you don't want to to upset or to anger china now by voting against or by voting for a measure that with our limits the chinese investments in europe and his the same public opinion here in europe is also pretty divided a new opinion poll in germany shows that germans are almost equally split between those who want closer ties with america and those wanting to put china 1st. that's

an extraordinary result when you consider the depth of the historic relationship between the u.s. and germany but it could get even worse donald trump has made repeated threats to open up a new trade between the u.s. and the european union. so that's where europe finds itself right now. facing the possibility of a new cold war between a difficult america and an encroaching china what should it do as europeans here where our. i think we're very interested in in free trade and we're very interested in keeping on the lines open and transparent. but how is that going to be. still possible in the years to con air for china continues to keep going the same direction that it has taken for the last 5 years. where you see and increasing our closing down and increasing repression and increase aggression.

so. i don't know if we will be all of us to to realize. where our heart is in there as it were its business interests or is it towards your values. at some point we'll have to make a choice i really believe so we are allies with them now but that does not imply that we just follow the lead over incapable leader like president like sheep we don't believe in. restructuring international. according to the age of all homes a big power confrontation we insist as europeans through our. international relations based on the rule of law international rule of law and

multilateral listen so and of course we give much more relevancy to international challenges but. what benefit a lot through chinese contributions president trump has never thought about the chinese contribution to the fight against climate change because in his mind or with 2 inches of chinese focus and speaking out from australia former prime minister kevin rudd says it's time for a like minded nations to get sick. and try at least to limit the fallout of whatever is to come i would if i were the mainstream europeans team up with comparable countries of of parallel clout in the international system to support financially and diplomatically these essential institutional pieces of machinery of the system of global governance now while the elephants continue to rampaging the

living. this is partly started happening already the e.u. lead an online fundraising effort to coordinate to find a coronavirus vaccine china only scented genia delegates and the us didn't even take part kevin rudd says it is essential to keep multilateral cooperation the life or at least on life support. keeping the institutions of global governance afloat and functioning to the greatest extent possible until we reach a form of either strategic librium with china united states or alternatively a new era of detente is arranged and which defines the areas in which a cold war will be conducted and not conducted. this is the new world that's a pairing on the horizon of well remains not just by the coronavirus of by a new type of cold war.

the global corona crisis you can find more information on mindset e.w. dot com and on t.w. social media channels. this is deja news and these are our top stories. spain is using one of the world's toughest walked outs prime minister pedro sanchez says he will open borders to foreign tourists from july despite the announcement some spaniards have taken to the streets to protest the government's handling of the pandemic.