The summit

摘要

China's president, Xi Jin-ping, is unlikely to quote Thucydides when he meets his American counterpart, Barack Obama, at a summit in California on June 7th and 8th. But the spirit of the Greek historian will hover over the Sunnylands ranch. Chinese policy wonks are struck by his argument that it was the Spartans' fear of the growing power of Athens that made war inevitable. Their insistence that China wants a "peaceful rise" is intended to calm such worries in America.