Event
During a meeting in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping asked US President Donald Trump whether the two countries could overcome the "Thucydides trap," a term describing tensions between an existing superpower and a rising power.
Background
The phrase, popularized by political scientist Graham Allison, originates from a line in Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides wrote that the growth of Athenian power and Sparta's resulting alarm made war inevitable.
The analogy is applied to US–China relations, but scholars note that the term misrepresents Thucydides' account.
Sparta's decision to go to war in 431 BCE was driven by pressure from allies and led to long-term decline, while Athens later scaled back its ambitions and focused regionally, enabling cultural flourishing.
Implications for US–China Relations
The historical example suggests that established superpowers may suffer from attempting to suppress rising powers, and that accommodation or strategic retrenchment can be sustainable alternatives.