“Can China and the United States transcend the so-called ‘Thucydides Trap’ and forge a new paradigm for major-power relations?” was the translated question from President Xi that came through President Trump’s earphones during his recent trip to China.
No doubt Trump frowned and tapped his earpiece, assuming that these were Xi’s untranslated words. Thycydides, transcend, paradigm: not really part of Trump’s working vocabulary. Perhaps a State Department official later explained that this “trap” was the war that results when an emerging power threatens the status quo. But Trump already knew this. The rules are the same throughout history: Carthage and Troy declare as much.
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