Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has called on China to avoid actions in pursuit of territorial claims in Asia that could make conflict with the United States more likely.
Speaking in Washington on Monday ahead of a meeting with President Barack Obama on Tuesday, Turnbull said Chinese President Xi Jinping had spoken of his desire to avoid the so-called Thucydides Trap — an academic theory that sees a risk of rivalry between a rising and an established power turning to conflict.
"If avoiding the Thucydides Trap is a core objective of China's strategy, as President Xi insists it is, then we would hope that China's actions will be carefully calculated to make conflict less likely not more," Turnbull told the Center for Strategic and International studies think tank.