Of course, it takes more than mutual respect to manage relations between major powers and avoid the Thucydides trap. On its part, China, as a rising power, is trying to offer more people-oriented policies to the world－ranging from reforms of the global financial and market order to optimization of global governance in which all countries get equal participating rights. But this will be possible only when key regional players work together.

This year offers some golden opportunities that major powers should not miss. The fourth Nuclear Security Summit to be held in Washington later this month will see world leaders discuss not only nuclear-related issues, but also a cooperative mechanism for other global matters.

The G20 Summit, to be held in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, in September, is expected to push for more concerted international efforts to revitalize the world economy.

Besides, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit and the East Asia Summit will indicate whether heads of state, especially Xi and his US counterpart Barack Obama, can break the deadlock in the DPRK's nuclear issue and the South China Sea disputes.

Therefore, major powers still have a long way to go in promoting win-win cooperation, as opposed to zero-sum games. And to achieve that, they should keep re-calibrating their ties to enhance mutual trust through regular, exemplary leadership meetings and dialogue.

The author is executive director of the China Center for Collaborative Studies of the South China Sea at Nanjing University.