Are Xi Jinping’s China and Donald Trump’s US destined for armed conflict?

Tense relations with the US, and the question of whether armed confrontation can be avoided, will loom large as China’s political elite meets at China’s annual “two sessions” of the National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Structural shifts in the balance of power have brought the countries closer to the brink, an analyst says, with the South China Sea the most likely flashpoint.