Xi Jinping's repeated use of the "Thucydides trap" framing is being read in Taipei as a bid for equal-power status with Washington, and as quiet pressure to pull American support away from Taiwan.

• Xi raised the idea again at the White House meeting with Trump, saying the trap between a rising power and a ruling one can be avoided.
• Taiwanese foreign-affairs officials call the analogy flawed, noting that in ancient Greece the winner was the declining power Sparta, not the rising Athens.
• Their read: the real US-China contest is over systems and values, not just who rises and who falls.
• Trump's move to walk Xi through the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is seen as making exactly that point.
• Taipei analysts say the subtext is a request that Washington stop arming and defending Taiwan, since Beijing treats Taiwan as a core interest.

Outlook: Washington has restated that its Taiwan policy is unchanged, so Taipei expects no near-term shift despite Beijing's framing.