{"id":28292,"date":"2026-09-24T17:04:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T17:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=28292"},"modified":"2026-09-24T17:04:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T17:04:20","slug":"thucydides-trap-xi-jinping-tests-donald-trump-with-thucydides-trap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=28292","title":{"rendered":"Thucydides Trap: Xi Jinping tests Donald Trump with &#8216;Thucydides Trap&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-134467130,imgsize-1020621,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/us-china-ties.jpg\" alt=\"Xi Jinping tests Donald Trump with 'Thucydides Trap'\" title=\"US President Donald Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ta7d_ img_cptn\"><span title=\"US President Donald Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping\">US President Donald Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"strong\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">TOI correspondent from Washington: <\/span>Implicitly suggesting that China is catching up with the United States if it hasn&#8217;t already, Chinese President <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/xi-jinping\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Xi Jinping<\/a> told Americans on Thursday that the two countries can avoid the historic conflict that often accompanies the rise of a new power, declaring that \u201cthe Thucydides Trap CAN be overcome.<!-- -->\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"6\"\/>The phrase \u201cThucydides Trap\u201d was coined by Harvard political scientist Graham Allison, drawing on the Athenian historian Thucydides&#8217; account of the Peloponnesian War.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"8\"\/>Thucydides identified the rise of Athens and the fear it generated in Sparta as the underlying force that made war increasingly difficult to avoid.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"10\"\/>Allison subsequently applied the historical pattern to modern great-power rivalry, examining 16 cases in which a rising power challenged an established one; in his analysis, 12 ended in war.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"14\"\/>Speaking at the White House welcome ceremony with President Trump sitting beside him, Xi said the US and China should pursue cooperation rather than confrontation and argued that China&#8217;s rise need not come at America&#8217;s expense.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"16\"\/>He called for the two countries to be \u201cpartners, not rivals,\u201d arguing that China&#8217;s \u201cgreat rejuvenation\u201d and Trump&#8217;s ambition to \u201cmake America great again\u201d could proceed together.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"18\"\/>China and the US should pursue a relationship in which competition is moderate, differences are manageable, and peace is predictable.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"21\"\/>It was hardly the language of a country preparing to surrender the geopolitical stage, nor was it quite the language of an adversary. It was Xi&#8217;s preferred formulation of the relationship: two great powers, different systems, competing interests \u2014 but neither destined to destroy the other.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"23\"\/>But it implicitly placed the burden of avoiding the trap on the established power, which may resist treating the rise of the challenger as an existential threat.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"26\"\/>Trump, for his part, responded with warmth that belied his past demonisation of China. In vapid remarks, he described Xi as a \u201cgreat leader\u201d and emphasised the personal relationship between the two men, saying the US and China had a \u201cgreat relationship.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"28\"\/>It was a strikingly different tone from the confrontational rhetoric \u2013 not just from Trump but from many American leaders \u2013 that has characterised the US approach to China in recent years.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"31\"\/>While Beijing portrays China&#8217;s rise as an opportunity for cooperation rather than a challenge requiring containment, critics in Washington counter that China&#8217;s military expansion, pressure around Taiwan and growing strategic influence demonstrate that the United States cannot simply assume benign intentions.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"34\"\/>Many of them are blasting Trump for being a \u201cDeferential President\u201d, as the Atlantic magazine put it in a headline, while sneering, \u201cNot long ago, President Trump could claim that he ran the world. <!-- -->Now he\u2019s waiting at the bottom of a set of airline steps for the Chinese president.\u201d<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"38\"\/>But a more sobering perspective came from secretary of state <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/marco-rubio\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marco Rubio<\/a>, who earlier in the day asserted that it would be irresponsible not to engage Beijing at the highest level despite differences.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"42\"\/>\u201cThe relationship between the United States and China will define the 21st century,\u201d Rubio said, echoing words that the US till recently had used for its ties with India, which is probably watching the scenario with consternation.<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/world\/us\/xi-jinping-tests-donald-trump-with-thucydides-trap\/articleshow\/134467004.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US President Donald Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping TOI correspondent from Washington: Implicitly suggesting that China is catching up with the United States if it hasn&#8217;t already, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Americans on Thursday that the two countries can avoid the historic conflict that often accompanies the rise of a new power, declaring [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-31"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790269475_us-china-ties.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790269475_us-china-ties.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790269475_us-china-ties.jpg","large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790269475_us-china-ties.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790269475_us-china-ties.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790269475_us-china-ties.jpg","blogsy-small":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790269475_us-china-ties.jpg","blogsy-small-tall":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790269475_us-china-ties.jpg","blogsy-small-square":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790269475_us-china-ties.jpg","blogsy-small-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790269475_us-china-ties.jpg","blogsy-medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790269475_us-china-ties.jpg","blogsy-medium-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790269475_us-china-ties.jpg","blogsy-large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790269475_us-china-ties.jpg","blogsy-wide":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790269475_us-china-ties.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"US President Donald Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping TOI correspondent from Washington: Implicitly suggesting that China is catching up with the United States if it hasn&#8217;t already, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Americans on Thursday that the two countries can avoid the historic conflict that often accompanies the rise of a new power, declaring [&hellip;]","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 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