“Middle Income Trap” means that when a country’s per capita income reaches the medium level and it fails to transform economic development mode, its economy will stagnate due to lack of economic growth momentum. In layman's terms, Tacitus Trap is when public power suffers credibility crisis, any of its comments or policies will receive negative comments. Thucydides Trap means that a rising power must challenge existing powers, and the latter must also respond to such threats, thus wars are inevitable. With the rapid economic and social development since the reform and opening up, China has become one of the Middle Income Countries. By further opening up to both domestic and foreign investors, China’s international influence, exhortation and flexibility have been greatly enhanced. Meanwhile, however, as socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era and China’s economic development has entered a new normal, the principal contradiction facing Chinese society has evolved into the contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life. The world is undergoing major developments, major changes and major adjustments, and various international public opinions such as ‘China threat theory” are on the rise. But in fact, China has always kept in mind both the domestic and international situations, followed the path of peaceful development and remained committed to the win-win strategy of opening up. China has been and will always be a contributor to world peace, facilitator for global development and proponent for international order. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly mentioned the three “trap laws” and made his own comments on them in many of his important statements delivered on different occasions. This has demonstrated the Party’s and our country’s firm commitment to economic and social development, governance credibility construction and world peace construction. This week, Professor Liu Zhibiao, Dean of Yangtze IDEI, held discussions with relevant experts and scholars on the topic “How Jiangsu Province Should Prevent and Cope with the Three Traps (Middle Income Trap, Tacitus Trap and Thucydides Trap)”.
