Experts say Thucydides's Trap not inevitable under Trump presidency

China and the United States could avoid falling into Thucydides's Trap under Donald Trump's new presidency, said experts at the Munich Security Conference over the weekend.

"Since President Trump took office, there are some positive signs coming up between China and the United States. So we're hoping that we can have a better relation, probably during his term," said Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization, a think tank.

He made the remarks while presenting his recent book Escaping Thucydides's Trap: Dialogue with Graham Allison on China-US Relations at an author reading during a sideline event at the conference on Saturday.

Graham Allison, a professor at Harvard University who popularized the term Thucydides's Trap in his 2017 book "Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?", reiterated his belief that war is not inevitable.

"My argument in this book is that when a rapidly rising power seriously threatens to disrupt a major ruling power, most often the outcome is war," said Allison, who was also at the event.

Structural factors may play a major role in a war outcome but don't eliminate the influence of human agency, "in which human leaders, taking advantage of the lessons they may have learned in previous cases, can make them successful without a war," Allison said.

"I think the reason for being slightly more optimistic at this point is that in President Trump, we have this new change agent," he said, adding that Trump "is determined to be the CEO and running things" despite the hawks in his administration.

Echoing Allison's view, Wang said the two countries "can certainly avoid or escape Thucydides's Trap," and Trump "may be the person who can make some changes" given his business background.

Wang mentioned Trump's many positive gestures recently, such as his willingness to get along with China and his interest in visiting China in his first 100 days in office.

"I think in Trump's case, it's not just the business perspective, but I do think he's got into his head that he wants to be a peacemaker," said Allison, calling on the two sides to take this as an opportunity to improve bilateral ties.

"While Trump will continue to shock and confuse us ... that's his kind of style of leadership ... we should look for opportunities where we can," Allison said. "So I'm betting the upside."