discover who. subscribe to the documentary to. come to. washington. demi killing hundreds of thousands. an economy on the brink. a nation profoundly divided the bike mirror has opened set by crises that hope and the rest of the world looks every bit as don't russia is openly hostile. flexing its muscles from the middle eastern europe to cyberspace. from afghanistan to the persian gulf the u.s. remains deeply in tangled in conflicts it doesn't know how much were sold. in

europe it faces allies so disillusioned that they're hedging their bets on america pushing the future of the western alliance into question. but in the contest for global power and influence one challenge overshadows all of us in china a new superpower has risen. one with a military might challenge the west. and an economy that's the envy of the world. as washington takes it on the brink general trying to turn one china looked on with obvious glee. with a veto in i.p.c.s. found 28 year that she may 1 day mean america so diminished that china can take sarcastic satisfaction in the state of its democracy think for a moment just how far the tape. tunde just 30 years ago george bush sr hailed in

america triumphant it had won the cold war it was in chunks no substitute for american leadership the president carry no one american credibility and role ayatollah but no one doubts our staying power the us was at the pinnacle of its power to remain forces who make a world the way they wanted it to be until a series of dishonest it's made it time backing on itself and stop terror has to. do with stassi is america's moment of global dominance simply coming to an end and states will not be the globe spanning preeminent military power in perpetuity. empires rise empires fall great powers rise great powers all joe biden insists that he has no intention of presiding over the full of an american empire america is

back america is back an american leadership must meet this new moment invention in authoritarianism including a growing ambitions of china to rival the united states in the determination of russia to damage and disrupt our democracy biden can seem like a relatively minor figure a transitional leader at the end of his career holding the fort until others can take over that he will have to make some absolutely massive choices for america can't return to that position supremes strength doesn't want to. settle for a more modest role. as we'll see later european leaders don't seem sure we are and demand one why on joe biden's biggest foreign policy issue of all they seem to be says he will offense.

late january 2021. for the global elite china's president xi jinping is the opening speaker at the world economic forum in just over a year after the pandemic broke house on his home turf he has a supremely confident message for the world we must not return for the path of the path that's the right approach is to act on the vision. with a shared future for mankind it was just the latest sign of china's emergence as a power on a level with the united states one willing to challenge it in almost every way donald trump reacted to all this by making aggression towards china his foreign policy calling card the biden team says it will push back just as hard there were 3 telling signs just as they were getting started 1st secretary of state tony blinken

at his nomination hearing in the senate shortly after the outgoing administration had accused china of committing genocide against the weak a minority in changing lincoln is asked if he agrees so on the on the on the leaders i think were very much in agreement the. forcing men women and children into concentration camps are trying to. in effect re educate them. to be adherence to the ideology the china's communist party. all of that speaks to to an effort to qut to commit genocide think about the weight of that accusation that what's been going on in sheen jack is an act not merely of repression but of genocide one happening not in history but right now. the 2nd sign at biden's inauguration away from the limelight on the podium

a guest is clearly making sure stree i'm honored to be here today on meet the people i never met one time on this was the official representative of taiwan to washington d.c. the 1st ever to be invited to a presidential inauguration remember like most of the world the united states doesn't recognize taiwan as an independent country in line with beijing's insistence that there was only one china this was a powerful snub to china and a major more rollbacks to taiwan and 3rd let's hear a little more detail of what the administration has been saying in the big picture strategic competition with china as defining feature of the 21st century china's in gauging conduct that it hurts american workers arms or technological edge and threatens our alliances and our influence in international organizations what we've seen over the last few years is that china's growing more authoritarian at home and more assertive abroad and beijing is now challenging our security prosperity and

values in significant ways that require a new u.s. approach so what is that new approach really going to be let's start with security in asia and so. china has been expanding its military at an extraordinary pace in recent years especially its navy which is building new ships much faster than the u.s. this huge naval expansion is all about establishing china's dominant the region through the south china sea and the east china sea. notoriously china has been building military outposts on disputed islands throughout the region despite objections from its neighbors this is partly about staking out military might but it also has huge implications for the world economy a really significant proportion of global trade passes through these waters the

greatest fear of all is that china could one day follow through on its threat to invade taiwan something that's not just a daily concern for the people of taiwan but for u.s. allies in the whole region the power. if taiwan were to be occupied by the chinese military then it becomes almost impossible to defend our entire network. i would bet. a blockade at that point. because at any time they could be invaded from taiwan if they're attacking these risks is going to take more new mental efforts from the u.s. in asia in the years to come from investing in the navy to rallying allies in the region to stick together that process was already underway cheering the trumpet ministration with meetings of the quotes from the u.s.

and india and australia seeking there but china is rising so fast that the us would have to shift priorities in a big way to stand a chance of keeping up but it is i think no on real world in which the united states can to aspire to have a dominant position in europe a dominant position in the middle east and a dominant position in asia and that's basically where united states has really been accustomed to. the. top of the list for a rethink is the grace of middle east but the u.s. has put enormous resources it's a post $911.00 was distracting us strategists from what was happening in china america got so mileage in the greater middle east that is conflicts that have become known as the forever was americans are tired of them holding makes it clear that they want them to answer and joe biden has promised to do that but he's not

the 1st president to do so and you can expect a lot of debate about what ending those wars actually means he did not define an end to forever war in the way that i want to talk about maintaining a force to pursue. terrorism in afghanistan for example and was pretty unspecific with respect to the rest of the greater middle east i'm glad out reject and less wars as their description of where we are doing in iraq afghanistan and other places and i think the proper parallel is cheer americana involvement in germany japan south korea that is what was once. a conquest becomes a friendship it becomes a partnership the middle east is a powerful example of just how hard it is for the us to shift priorities. so

many resources into long term commitments worries about israel's security and iran's nuclear program also find it to the region but there's another place where the us has been entrenched for even longer right here in europe. more than 70 years after the end of world war 2 and the founding of nato the us still has a massive military presence in europe donald trump questioned all of this in a way no u.s. preston had done before he was particularly aggressive back european military spending which is much lower than the u.s. as a proportion of their economies europe is one of the richest regions in the world and yet it's not able to guarantee its own security if the u.s. has to shift resources towards asia europe is going to have to step up many

european leaders actually agree during the trump is uncle americal often spoke of the need for europe to take more responsibility for it serves curity side. and then beyond of unknown. fairly often go on. even those to fall by. that's obvious and in that garden earlier well that's not counting of the video oh you know muslims are shit 3rd berkeley's you know what i'm going to have them but that's in theory what about in practice when the lofty ambitions come with a price tag here in germany for example military spending is the portion of g.d.p. has preserved in the past couple of years but it's not expected to hit a target of 2 percent for some time to come. and in the aftermath of the mind to make government spending cuts come under massive pressure the population i'm used to paying for its own defense and an enthusiastic regulatory action may push back

against big budgets or. after decades of depending ringback on the us to such an extent is it really realistic for the e.u. to find it so what we can do underestimate what america has there own the decades and actually on it and europe and we need to get a broader and shared on the founding of what the problems are that. this will put europe in the middle of a bewildering number of questions should nato remain the centerpiece of european defense who should the e.u. develop more of its own capabilities care should europe deal with growing threats beyond the battlefield like cyber warfare and 8 i as you can see europe has a long way to go before it can really stand on its own 2 feet so while you can expect the u.s. to keep up the pressure to take on more responsibility the fundamentals are

unlikely to change for years to come and in fact all signs so that the biden team wants to leverage european allies in a new way part something even bigger a coming back of the systems. remember she jumping speech at the world economic forum let's catch a little more of what he said the part which was aimed directly at the west to build small circles or start a new cold war that to reject threaten or intimidate others to willfully introduce decoupling supply disruption to sanctions and to create isolation all is strange when we're only pushed the world into division and even confrontation let's break that down for a moment this was she jumping warning the west not to rally together against china

something the biden ministration says it's determined to do not just against china's growing military assertiveness as we saw earlier but also against these diplomatic and trade practices that are increasingly being seen as bullying like when it slapped tariffs and various astray in imports after australia called for an investigation into the origins of the corona virus outbreak which all found. coming. to your mails were not. true families beijing gave similar treatment to sweden of trip banned chinese firms from its 5 g. mobile data network over security concerns at the same time the pandemic has fueled western worries about dependence on chinese supplies like pharmaceuticals adding to all this is a growing unease about china's authoritarianism the prime examples stripping hong

kong of its freedoms despite treaty commitments not to do so for decades to come. and his actions in shin janke for the biden ministration has called genocide as we saw earlier take all of this together and it's clear that china's rise is about much more than its military power in asia it presents a multi fronted challenge to almost every aspect of the era that america has presided over since the end of the cold war that's why there's one thing you constantly hear from the new administration when they talk about dealing with china today want to rally america's allies to stand up to beijing together with our allies or. we were there well. and that provides us not just because we need. a lot of course with

their prime. ministerial service their principal. stares through. this is what she chimping was warning against when he talked about the new cold war and isolation and estrangement the biking team would not say that they want to start a new cold war but it is absolutely clear that they want to rally allies around a common approach to china the question is will the allies fall in line providing that economic heft and chorus of voices that we just heard about bullitt might not be so simple. at the very end of 2020 a diplomatic bombshell during a video call between brussels linen beijing the european union and china agreed just sweeping investment treaty aimed at boosting business between the 2 sides uncle americal was the trifling force behind the deal saying it would bring

fairness to european companies working in china what really stood out about this deal was the timing it was squinting. just at the end of the year and as germany's presidency of the european union was about to come to an end and crucially it was more than 3 weeks before the biden of mixed race was about to come into office it was so last minute that the biden to get to be directly appealing in a tweet for the europeans to wait and took a better joint approach. the european side tried that off and went ahead with the deal anyway seizing on chinese concessions and delivering a huge diplomatic boost to beijing in a time they could hardly have been a more powerful signal from berlin and brussels to the bike ministration cannot count on automatic support from europe in dealing with china. while the e.u.

professed openness to working closely with the biden team ultimately their own interests came 1st those interests are pretty clear the european economy has become highly dependent on the chinese market particularly germany's german carmakers generate a huge proportion of their sales that depended on it for growth to compensate for stagnation in hog markets this is the reality shaping europe's approach to china for all of its talk about china's human rights abuses and its aggressive behavior nothing seems to outweigh the economic imperative of having good relations with beijing and that makes european leaders highly wary of getting sucked into a long term faceoff between the u.s. and china the actual question that europeans will need to tackle is to what extent they want to with the united states that major namely to stop the rise of china

and this is not a new one i lead your. interest at the moment no european monitors remark you are. in fact when she spoke after she chimping at that meeting at the world economic forum america made it clear that she'd prefer that fence doesn't remain as finished so in our block here in common. we will spend few know. get a woman. you know and then go. at 1st. so that's 1st and then we probe further at a joint press conference with machall and europe's other most powerful player emmanuel mccall of france asking them why they seem so lukewarm over u.s. leadership on china as the biden and want to shield an ardent visor shine and seamless forces dishy were on his soldiers all. to sign

while merkel said she would support biden's plan for a summit of democracies both she and mark insisted that europe would be charting its own course this double food you have a piece on you understand 50. don't you go. you know politico at dinner to relive some kind of meeting for anything. off the minds on the other the theme of on towards them is if you look well not so much being too much what's. not says i'm less went up in our source of all of the bottles that clicker the brought this she didn't remember it and president doesn't start as you did in your mavic it was this fence sitting by america's european allies has the potential to reignite the tensions of the trump years. europeans believe that they can remain neutral in any growing rivalry between the united states and china and sort of have equally good relations with beijing and washington and at the same time expect the united

states to be the 1st responder whenever anything happens in europe i think they're living in a dream world as we heard earlier donald trump scorn to europeans as freeloaders and here in europe that has shaken trust caps common interest and now if europeans look at the transatlantic alliance that is strong a degree of caution and that words. and europeans need to build up their own research and their own strategies to be able to act in a more independent right to death race or to trumpet ministration attitude feeds the united states has become a fundamentally unstable a power that allies can never again depend on in coins. this brings us to the biggest question facing america's place in the world right now how can it expect allies to follow it wholeheartedly if they fear it could be on the brink of

disaster itself ultimately that means that joe biden successful failure at home will provide affect what he's able to achieve health board she says that americans back the rest of the world is asking is it too broken to lead. the world around her or her just being in washington on the eagles bikes inauguration. trousers of national guard troops called to the capitol after the attempted insurrection the grim sign of the condition america is in america is hoping to do most of the wars right no one knows. the fight against coal with my team and we don't know how long this will. lost in all the economy economy pure economic outcome. which will be the sauce runs and the other domestic war is really within the political system those domestic wars being fought in the background will

go on for a long time to come and they don't just affect american politics as the ministration is fully aware that we're all used to measuring all domestic yours. right now the most profound national security challenge facing. the house and were the most urgent priority is getting the pandemic under control as well as the economic fallout the long term challenge of house we deal with america's divisions goes much deeper i think this idea that us was always one big happy 20 not a country i lived there for a long time now and so i think it's just you can see it now and while trump has left the white house the forces he unleashed have not lost power trump ism is a more dangerous and more pernicious movement than anyone could have accounted for even a couple years ago and what i worry about as

a forward public you know the sort of character of the party i'm worried about the more competent smart. presentable version of trump that's going to come down the pike in a few years this all feeds into a sense of instability that he's absolutely talks for america's ability to lead in the world posing the very real and fundamental question can america be relied on the last 3 presidents he supported wild swings in foreign policy. broke obama signed the iran nuclear deal and the paris climate agreement then donald trump pulled the us out of both and left the world health organization to now joe biden has taken us back into the paris agreement and the w.h.o. can the u.s. really lead the world when it exhibits. while changes in position from one president to the next. that's the cosmic level of doubt that will hang over joe biden every foreign policy decision. and something that china stands ready to

china is a century maybe he's. smart. and they're going to function into the united states picking one of their their system doesn't work our system but there is one area where the u.s. can step up in a new way narea where hope for the future is in short supply climate scientists agree that the world is on course for devastation if it fails to cut back further on carbon pollution for most extreme state john kerry is biden for climate policy in appointment showing this was a top priority experts say that the u.s. has a big opportunity to combine reviving its economy with cutting its emissions and helping other countries do the same right now green recovery still a huge luxury for a majority of. the u.s. has a huge role to play in that not only in its own development aid on its own overseas

international. but you know how they. let me banks and i think we were in the eye on that. other country. on earth. sort of leadership navigating international institutions doesn't grab the limelight something where the u.s. still has unique influence things and crucially cutting carbon emissions involves fundamental changes to economic incentives affecting how global sectors like energy work this makes any real change far less vulnerable upswings in american politics future presidents powerless to stop it it sounds like a modest view of american leadership but listen to the man now fronting us foreign policy and his message is one of modesty i believe that. you military and confidence should be the flip sides of america's leadership coin. humility

because we have a great deal of work to do at home to enhance our standing abroad and humility because most of the world's problems are not about us in the 1st instance even as they affect us and no single country acting alone even one is powerful the united states can fully and effectively address these problems it turns the question of america's role in the world back to the rest of us. do we want america to lead we're all we can take. every country facing choices here choices that will have consequences for decades to.

life on earth one of a kind and. a. coincidence. or the improbable happen. that often isn't going to dampen the creation of our solar system with the planet is a bit like winning the lottery in the. least earth more unique. in 16 minutes on d w. with different languages we fight for different things that's fine but we all stick up for freedom freedom of speech and freedom of press. giving freedom of choice. global news that matters d. w. made for mines.

this is deja vu news coming to you live from berlin good news from the red planet. perseverance roseboro from nassau touches down after a 7 month journey for a quest to find out whether life once existed on mars also coming up a search for answers continues.