The contrast was striking. On one side, Donald Trump promising a “fabulous future†to relations between the United States and China, reported CNBC. On the other, Xi Jinping warning of a conflict on Taiwan. “China and the United States have everything to gain from cooperation and everything to lose from confrontation. We should be partners, not rivals. We should help each other succeed and prosper together…, thus underlined the Chinese president, according to the China Daily.
In front of his American counterpart, reports The Wall Street Journal, Xi Jinping, on the other hand, spoke “l’un de ses concepts théoriques préférésâ€Â : the “Thucydides Trap†. According to the Greek historian of the Ve siècle avant notre ère “the rise of Athens inspired such fear in Sparta that war between the two cities was inevitable†, reminiscent of the American daily newspaper. In other words, a dominant power risks going to war with an emerging power whose rise in power it fears. A risk that Xi Jinping intends to avoid.
“Can China and the United States overcome the Thucydides Trap and found a new model for relations between great powers? Can they work together to address global challenges and bring greater stability to the world?
