The risk of conflict as a rising China challenges the US is over-stated. The two countries are interdependent and the world is becoming more integrated. It is in neither country’s interest to have a major confrontation with the other.
The rapid rise of China has not only made it the second-largest economic power, but also reshaped the economic, geopolitical and diplomatic landscapes in the world. As a result, the relationship between China and the United States, the incumbent hegemon of the world, has become the most important bilateral relationship in global affairs.
The ultimate question is whether the two superpowers can escape what American academic Graham Allison has called the “Thucydides Trap”, which suggests that conflict between a rising power and incumbent is inevitable, drawing from a famous quote from the ancient Greek historian Thucydides: “It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this inspired in Sparta that made war inevitable.”
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