Chinese President Raises War Theory During Trump Summit in Provocative Opening

What was said

"Xi gave a speech, it was his opening remarks at the bilateral meeting, and in it, in those remarks, he questioned if the two nations could overcome the Thucydides trap. And that's a theory suggesting that when a rising power threatens to displace an established one a war could result."

Chinese President Xi Jinping opened bilateral talks with Trump by invoking the Thucydides trap theory, which predicts war when a rising power threatens an established one. The reference positioned China as the rising power and America as declining, a provocative framing that Trump later attempted to deflect by attributing it to Biden-era decline. The moment underscored tensions despite Trump's repeated compliments to Xi, which were not reciprocated.