Author(s)

Raheel Khan¹, Shakir Ullah^2*, Muhammad Suliman¹, Muhammad Sheraz Naveed¹

Affiliation(s)

¹Department of Political Science, Government Post Graduate College Timergara, University of Malakand, Lower Dir District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 18800, Pakistan.

²Visiting Lecturer and Research Supervisor, Department of Political Science at GPGC Timergara, University of Malakand, Lower Dir District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 18800, Pakistan.

Corresponding Author

Shakir Ullah

ABSTRACT

The ongoing competition and rivalry between the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China is the defining issue of the 21st century in international relations. Both the great powers have been engaged in a strategic competition often referred to by some scholars as the New Cold War. The US wants to maintain its status quo with it as the world’s sole superpower. However, China’s rise has challenged the United States’ hegemony as well as its ‘New World Order’, and is in favor of a multi-polar world order where it could have also the same level of influence. The competition between the two powers encompasses various domains from trade and technology to military and influence. When a rising power challenges the hegemony of an existing power the dilemma it creates is known as Thucydides’ Trap. The Indo-Pacific region is the center of competition between both the great powers. Key issues between both the countries in the Indo-Pacific region include the South China Sea Disputes, the Taiwan Issue, and China’s growing assertiveness. The intense competition between both the great powers and various maritime and territorial disputes between China and several other US allies such as Taiwan can potentially lead to a military conflict between the US and China. This qualitative research focuses on all those factors that could potentially lead to a military conflict between the US and China in the Indo-Pacific region under the theoretical framework of Thucydides’ Trap. An instance of Germany and Britain is used to prove that the current rivalry between the US and China has the potential to lead to a military conflict between them. 

KEYWORDS

US-China; Strategic competition, South China Sea; Possible war; Indo-Pacific; Thucydides' Trap

CITE THIS PAPER

Raheel Khan, Shakir Ullah, Muhammad Suliman, Muhammad Sheraz Naveed. US-China strategic competition and the inevitable Thucydides Trap. Trends in Social Sciences and Humanities Research. 2024, 2(6): 33-42. DOI: 10.61784/tsshr3054.

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