The new U.S. president’s opening moves were generally steady and smooth, and some were successful. But America’s deep-rooted political and social contradictions will act as a constraint during Biden’s presidency.

The U.S. and others should help developing countries solve their problems, rather than using them as a playing field in a geopolitical competition with China. Excessive competition will not lead to the better world that the American president says he seeks.

A new cold war between China and the United States will not look like the one between the U.S. and Soviet Union. It will involve entirely new forms of competition. This is the direction the Biden administration is heading as it seeks to suppress China.

The general mood in the relationship is better than it was toward the end of the frenzied Trump term. But it’s too early to know if a true rebound has occurred. The Biden administration has signaled that it will go even further than Trump when it comes to China policy.

China and the United States should seek to warm their relationship, even amid competition, and their leaders should meet. The international community would welcome such a meeting by the world’s largest and second-largest economies, as it would contribute to global stability.

Cui Tiankai, the departing Chinese Ambassador to the U.S., said the two countries are at "critical crossroads" in their ties.

In their latest communiqué, NATO leaders declared that China presents “systemic challenges to the rules-based international order.” The response from China’s mission to the European Union was clear: “We will not present a ‘systemic challenge’ to anyone, but if someone wants to pose a ‘systemic challenge’ to us, we will not remain indifferent.” Such a tit-for-tat rhetoric is unnecessary, and most of the world’s population probably does not want it to escalate. Yet escalation is becoming more likely every day.

EU member nations have become increasingly aware of Chinese influence in the Eastern European region, which calls for a reorienting of their strategy in the Balkans.

Wide-ranging conversation may signal a U.S. intention to appease China. But the Biden administration apparently wants to avoid being seen as overly provocative, even as it adopts a competitive and confrontational stance on the real issues and creates diversions with others.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s general narrative of “democracy against autocracy” will not be accepted wholesale. Europe wants to avoid being dragged by the United States into a costly new cold war that’s driven by strategic autonomy.