Ambassador Xie Feng: Why should we still jump headlong into the 'Thucydides trap' now that we have all realized its extreme danger?

On April 19, 2024, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng visited Harvard University and had a fireside chat with Founding Dean of Harvard Kennedy School Prof. Graham Allison.

Ambassador Xie pointed out that as the world's most important bilateral relationship, the China-US relationship is facing unprecedented challenges. Whether the younger generation can continue to enjoy the eight-decade-long peace and development as their parents did depend largely on whether China and the United States can find the right way to get along in the new era. In this globalized world, countries are not riding separately in some 190 small boats, but are sailing in one giant ship, sharing the same future. Only by pulling together can we find a way out, while pulling apart will only get us all drowned.

Ambassador Xie stressed that China's choice is clear and firm: We will advance national rejuvenation through a Chinese path to modernization at home, and promote world peace and development through building a community with a shared future for mankind internationally. It has been 12 years since Prof. Allison first alarmed us about the "Thucydides Trap". Now that we have all realized the extreme danger of the trap, why should we still jump headlong into it? From the very start, China does not see the "Thucydides trap" as inevitable. We are willing to work with the US side based on the principles outlined by President Xi Jinping, namely, mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, to promote the sound, steady and sustainable development of China-US relations, and jointly navigate around the trap. Is the US side also ready to do so?