Why China is not capable of taking over the world – and may never be By Daniel Capurro

The Telegraph

25 DECEMBER 2017 • 6:21AM

A naval soldier of the PLA aboard China’s first aircraft carrier CREDIT: XINHUA/REUTERS

Are you afraid of China’s rise? Throughout 2017 a steady drip drip of concerned pundits and experts have talked darkly of a “Thucydides Trap” – a theory put forward by Harvard professor Graham Allison that, as with Sparta and Athens, a rising power creates fear in the existing hegemon, and war becomes inevitable. But you needn’t be worried, for now.
As with most simple and catchy analyst terms, the “Thucydides Trap” is rather flawed, and serves primarily to show why political scientists shouldn’t be let loose on history. Aside from the usefulness of selectively comparing the modern world to Europe’s notoriously bloody path to modernity, as Allison does, the proponents of the trap theory overlook a few important points.
First, China is operating within the globalised capitalist system. Its rise has not come from conquest or colonisation, nor has it placed itself directly in opposition to the…
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