US Pakistan relations have turned poisonous, with blunt statements proliferating from both governments. In Istanbul, a recent gathering of Afghanistan s concerned neighbors produced only a rather anodyne statement in preparation for a meeting in Bonn later this year.

Though Chinese President Xi Jinping s call for a new type of great power relations may sound anodyne, the phrase apparently demonstrates awareness of the Thucydides trap. It signals China s openness to working with other countries to avoid a repetition of the tragedies of 431 BC and 1914 AD.