China is a complex country, and so is the U.S. relationship with it. For Kevin Rudd, a China expert and former Australian prime minister, his vantage point allows him to step back and see that relationship from a different perspective.

Rudd’s insights into President Xi Jinping’s ideological worldview have drawn the attention of governments across the globe. Rudd says China’s upcoming 20th Party Congress will be the most significant event in 40 years. He says the 12th Party Congress of 1992 laid the ideological foundation for where China is today. It unleashed their economy of production and established that their foreign policy was to serve their domestic policy and build their economic growth.

Rudd discusses new developments in China’s political economy, some of the challenges President Jinping is facing due to economic difficulties, and their impact on U.S.-China relations moving forward.

Watch China’s Shifting Economy and Politics with Kevin Rudd.