Chinese state media accuses US of ‘manufacturing’ idea it poses a strategic threat
- Commentary in party mouthpiece People’s Daily says there is no need for the two countries to be locked in confrontation
- Article also hits out at those to claim to have made America ‘great again’ and warns that failure to cooperate would be a strategic misjudgment
China and the United States do not need to be locked in confrontation, the Communist Party’s official mouthpiece said on Tuesday.
The 6,000-character front-page article in People’s Daily was the latest in a series of increasingly assertive defences published in state media and argued that the world did not want to see China and America falling into a Thucydides trap – an idea devised by a US political scientist that a rising power challenging an established power can lead to war.
Published under the byline “Guoji Ping”, a pen name that means international commentary, the article suggested that America had “manufactured” the idea of China as a strategic threat.
“Cooperation between China and the US would be a blessing, but confrontation would be a curse,” the article said.
“The world does not have a Thucydides trap, but if some people repeatedly fall into strategic misjudgment, then they may dig for themselves a Thucydides trap.
“The irony is that some in Washington arrogantly claim they are now ‘great again’, but pretend to be victims when they talk about China, with strategic anxiety written on their faces,” it said, referring to US President Donald Trump’s signature “Make America Great Again” slogan.