What Is 'Thucydides Trap,' Mentioned During Trump-Xi Meeting?
Xi framed US-China tensions as a risk of conflict, while experts said diplomacy can still avert war.
- On Thursday, Chinese President Jinping met President Donald Trump in Beijing, questioning whether US-China relations could avoid the 'Thucydides Trap' of conflict between rising and established powers.
- Popularized by Prof. Graham Allison of the Harvard Kennedy School, the term describes heightened war risk when a rising power challenges an established superpower, drawing on the ancient Peloponnesian War.
- Ancient Greek historian Thucydides chronicled how Sparta's fear of Athens' growing influence in the 5th century BCE contributed to war, a pattern later seen when Germany industrialized and challenged the Royal Navy.
- Urging caution, Beijing mirrors the advice of Archidamus, seeking to avoid the conflict that historically plagued Athens following the death of Pericles and the antics of Alcibiades.
- Experts emphasize the trap is not a guarantee of war, even as analyst Alan Greeley Misenheimer notes American national security policy requires readiness for potential adversaries including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.
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25 Articles
On the first day of the Sino-American summit in Beijing, the Chinese president alluded to the “Tucydides trap”, a geopolitical concept that, building on the Greek historian’s account of the war between Sparta and Athens — the fifth century before Christ — points to the serious risk of conflict that poses a situation with such an emerging power that its rise challenges the hegemonic power. Thucydides interpreted that the rise of Athens instilled …
In the context of the meeting of President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, he asked if his countries will be able to overcome the trap of Tucydides.The term refers to the geopolitical situation and the tensions that are generated around the relations of the great powers of the world. "They refer to the lethal structural tension that occurs when a new power challenges another established, that creates the conditions for a war to break out," explains…
PEKIN. “As the transformation of the century accelerates and the international landscape undergoes changes and turbulence, the world has reached a new crossroads. Can China and the United States overcome the ‘Tucidodes trap’ and establish a new paradigm for relations between great powers?” Xi said. The so-called “Tucidodes trap,” mentioned by Chinese President Xi Jinping, during his meeting with Donald Trump, reappeared in this way as a warning …
Xi Jinping warns of ‘Thucydides Trap’ in Trump meeting: What is it?
Xi questioned whether China and the United States could avoid repeating historical patterns of great-power conflict. “Can China and the United States overcome the Thucydides trap and create a new paradigm of major country relations?” Xi asked.
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