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The US and China are already at war. But which kind?

The fact that war can be fought in so many ways in the 21st century might reduce the need for actual military conflict.

Gillian Tett
Gillian TettContributor

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Early in November, the esteemed Harvard professor Graham Allison went down to Washington’s Senate to deliver a Greek history lesson. The topic was the Athenian historian Thucydides who, of course, penned the account of war between Sparta and Athens in the fifth century BC.

This kind of conflict used to only excite students of the classics. But in 2017 Allison wrote a tome called Destined for War: Can America and China escape Thucydides’s Trap?, and it became a surprise bestseller.

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Financial Times

Gillian Tett is chair of the editorial board and editor-at-large, US of the Financial Times. She writes weekly columns, covering a range of economic, financial, political and social issues.

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    Original URL: https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/the-us-and-china-are-already-at-war-but-which-kind-20211125-p59bzm