US and China seek strategic stability to avert conflict, says Harvard's Graham Allison
Harvard professor Graham Allison says the US and China are working towards a constructive, strategically stable relationship to prevent a catastrophic conflict.
The United States and China are pursuing a "constructive and strategically stable" relationship aimed at preventing a catastrophic conflict, despite their enduring rivalry and deep disagreements, according to Graham Allison, a professor of government at Harvard Kennedy School.
Allison, known for his work on "Thucydides's Trap" — the historical tendency for established powers and rising rivals to go to war — described China as the classic rising power and the US as the established ruling power. He was speaking in an interview aired on Saturday.
His remarks came as Chinese President Xi Jinping undertook a three-day state visit to the United States at the invitation of US President Donald Trump. The trip follows Trump's state visit to China in May, the first by a US president in nearly nine years.
Allison said both leaders realistically appreciate that the two countries are fierce rivals with many areas of disagreement, and that if left to business as usual, history as usual would mean a catastrophic war.
"They certainly clearly agreed that they should not have a war between these two great countries," he said, adding that both presidents carry a great responsibility to prevent the classic rivalry from ending the way such rivalries historically have.
Following the Beijing summit in May, Allison said, both sides have referred to building a constructive relationship with strategic stability, and have sought to enrich the concept with principles including equality, fairness and reciprocity.
He has frequently travelled to China in recent years and has argued that the risk of US-China conflict can be reduced through active statecraft.