From Jiang Tao
On January 20th, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order temporarily suspending the enforcement of the “ban-or-sell TikTok” law for the next 75 days. But before this, hundreds of thousands of “TikTok refugees” had flocked to the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, creating a unique cross-linguistic “cyber cultural exchange.”
At first, many speculated that this might lead to confrontations between Chinese and foreign netizens, but surprisingly, the vibe of this unexpected people-to-people exchange turned out to be friendly, warm and sincere. Netizens from the two countries have been engaging in interesting interactions covering a wide range of topics. Some mainland Chinese netizens even uploaded English homework seeking help from American users, while others uploaded math problems, asking Chinese netizens for solutions.
This phenomenon demonstrates that civil exchanges between China and the U.S. are not as confrontational as some American politicians have tried to make people believe. Regardless of nationality, most people from both countries engage in these exchanges with friendliness and curiosity, hoping to get to know the real lives on the other side of the planet. One American netizen mentioned that she took the Chinese advice of drinking warm water instead of cold water, and although she was unsure of the effect, she appreciated how much Chinese people cared about her health, which left a strong impression on me.
As of January 15th, the “English” hashtag on Xiaohongshu had over 90,000 posts, with discussions exceeding 1 million and views surpassing 110 million. The “Math” hashtag had more than 5,000 posts, over 50,000 discussions, and nearly 10 million views. Xiaohongshu also held the top spot on the U.S. Apple App Store download chart for several days.
This phenomenon is making me reflect on the “Thucydides Trap” theory proposed by Harvard University professor Graham Allison more than a decade ago. He examined 16 historical instances of rising powers challenging established ones over the past 500 years, and found that 12 of these ended in war, while only 4 did not result in conflict. Based on this, he argued that competition and conflict between a rising power and an established power are almost inevitable. But is this confrontational mindset that politicians promote really in line with public sentiments?
The reason why the “Thucydides Trap” theory has been so influential for so long is because it aligns with the desire of politicians to use confrontation to solve problems. However, in today’s world, the international community has become a lot more interdependent. This is reflected not only in civil exchanges but also in business relations between the two countries. In the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, over 1,300 Chinese companies participated, accounting for about 27% of all exhibitors. The latest collaborative achievements between Chinese and American tech companies were highly noticeable. In the current situation, common interests between China and the U.S. have not diminished but increased instead. This is the shared feeling of most businesses and citizens in both countries and serves as an important foundation for mutually beneficial cooperation. In fact, many American politicians have begun to recognize this. As early as the U.S.-China summit in San Francisco in November 2023, a U.S. representative stated that the “Thucydides Trap” is not inevitable.
Despite Trump’s pre-election stance on imposing high tariffs on China and adopting a tough posture, his invitation to Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration reflected his intention not to fully oppose China. This move shows that he recognized the value of win-win cooperation and acknowledged that confrontation would harm both sides. China has also shown greater openness, and on January 20th, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to a journalist’s question about Elon Musk’s comment that X should be allowed to operate in China by stating that as long as foreign internet companies comply with Chinese laws and regulations and provide safe and reliable products and services, they are welcome to develop in China.
Of course, U.S.-China relations involve many complex factors, but we cannot ignore the growing common interests between the two countries. Advancing the development of global civilization requires great powers to take on more responsibilities in promoting international affairs, rather than focusing solely on their own interests and disregarding the interests of other countries. Neglecting this will only exacerbate conflicts, generate more structural tensions, and ultimately lead to regression. –The Author is also a Reporter for CGTN Radio
