Scholar says China's rise not necessarily lead to 'Thucydides trap'

HONG KONG - A scholar refuted assertions that a rising China will lead to conflict with the United States, the incumbent superpower, thus falling into the "Thucydides trap."

In an article published by the South China Morning Post recently, Peter T.C. Chang, deputy director of the Institute of China Studies of the University of Malaya, cited legendary Chinese navigator Zheng He's peaceful maritime expeditions in the Ming Dynasty to show his point.

"If the past can serve as a guide, China could be a different kind of world power," Chang said.

China, unlike Western imperialism, will not impose its values on others, he said.

China has charted its own course over the past decades, lifting hundreds of millions out of abject poverty, the expert noted.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) transformed a war-torn, impoverished homeland into a secure, prosperous nation, Chang said.

If the CPC's first century was about transforming the homeland, the next century will test its dexterity in guiding China's integration into the global community with a shared future for mankind, he said.

Chang suggested China open up further and make it better understood by an attentive yet wary world.