(Opinion) Hawks as Corinthians: Thucydides and the 'Stand Up to China' Argument
2016-03-04 09:16:06 source：China US Focus
By Jared McKinney
March 3, 2016
"It has become a meme to say that if the U.S. exercises leadership and 'stands up' to China, showing American strength, then China will be forced to back down from its 'aggressive' behavior and the status quo will be comfortably maintained. This meme has the advantages of appealing to American identity as the world’s sheriff and defender of the weak, of being easily communicable on the campaign trail, and of serving as a simple once-sentence guide to politicians eager to preserve the post-Cold War world: increase the military budget, deter and confront China through aggressive signaling and regional alliances, and all will be well.
This argument is not an American original. To the contrary, it echoes back all the way to 432 BC, to an ancient Greek assembly at which Sparta's allies, particularly the Corinthians, accused the Athenians of injustices and aggression and sought to secure a Spartan decision for war against Athens. Thucydides, who wrote the history of Greek polities during this period, would be pleased by the comparison, seeing as he sought to write a history that would 'last for ever' and in which the events of his own narration would be repeated 'at some time or other and in much the same ways' (Thucydides, 1.22)."
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