Its not an old idea at all. Its from a 2012 article by Graham Alison followed by a 2017 book on the rise of China specifically that Xi Jinping read and referenced.

Its claimed to be an old idea, but its actually only recently become popular

You are right. Thank you for correcting me. It never ceases to amaze me just how much I can be confidently mistaken about.

If you want to be pedantic, it actually dates back to 1980, in a talk at the Naval War College https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thucydides_Trap