TRUMP, XI, AND THE COURSE OF HISTORY
- Paul Hansbury
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
US President Donald Trump visited Beijing last week for a summit with China's Xi Jinping. The Chinese leader warned Trump against falling into 'the Thucydides trap', the belief that war is likely to result when one power rises and threatens to supplant an existing hegemon – as the Greek historian, Thucydides, described happening when Athens emerged as a rival to Sparta. The result 2,500 years ago was the Peloponnesian wars.
It was an unusual reference from the Chinese leader, one which reveals that the prospect of having to fight a war against the US occupies his (or, at least, his advisers') thoughts. I wish to write a very quick post about hegemonic war; that is, a war between the dominant powers for leadership.
A summit of equals?
