On various occasions before the last 19th Party Congress, President Xi outlined four traps China realistically has to contend with in realizing the China Dream of national renaissance. These are the Middle Income Trap, the Tacitus Trap, the Thucydides Trap and the Kindleberger Trap. These four traps are explained in an article of 30 October 2017 by Yangzhong Huang on a blog of the Council on Foreign Relations, New York. 

At a time of intensifying tension between the United States and China, it is instructive to bear these four traps in mind by way of perspectives on both sides.