Deterioration of US-China relationship is open ended

LAST month, US President Barack Obama was in Hangzhou for a G-20 meeting and, while there, held what is likely to be his last substantive bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two men may meet again at the Nov 19-20 Apec leaders' meeting in Lima, Peru but, by then, there will be a new American president waiting in the wings.

What's interesting about the Hangzhou meeting is that Mr Obama picked up a theme from his first meeting with the Chinese president in June 2013, a theme that he then dropped for three years.

This was Mr Xi's proposal of a new model of major country relationship between China and the US, a proposal that the Chinese leader said was meant to avoid the "Thuycidides Trap" which says conflict between a rising power and the established power is inevitable.