President Donald Trump participates in a welcome ceremony with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People. (Photo: AP) As US President Donald Trump wraps up his two-day visit to China, an ancient feud – the Peloponnesian War – referred to by Chinese President Xi Jinping has become a common refrain to interpret the evolving ties between the two major powers.  In his opening remarks ahead of a closed-door meeting with Trump, Xi asked, “Can China and the United States transcend the so-called ‘Thucydides Trap’ and forge a new paradigm for major-power relations? What is Thucydides Trap? The term Thucydides Trap is traced to the work of Greek historian Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War , which tells the history of a war between the Athenian Empire and Sparta and its allies fought between 431 and 404 BC. Graham Allison’s book, Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides (2017), is often credited with popularising the term in 21st century international politics.…