Are Confucian China and the Christian West destined to clash? How religion can explain the new cold war
The ongoing trade war is just one front of an expanding all-out US-China tussle for world dominance. And unlike earlier great-power rivalries, this has the trappings of a civilisational showdown, as the pre-eminent Christian West faces off against a resurgent Confucian East, with potentially far-reaching consequences for the existing global order.
Anxieties abound over whether these two giants share enough core values to manage a peaceful balancing of power, and can avert the dreaded Thucydides Trap. These fears are not unfounded. While similar in some ways, Christianity and Confucianism are distinct traditions, with theological assumptions that, if unchallenged, could set the US and China on a collision course.
