Joe Biden is about to embark on his first trip to Europe as U.S. president. After a Group of Seven summit in England, he will attend a NATO summit in Belgium and then a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva.
But while Europe will serve as the locale, the focus ultimately will be on China, because Biden’s strategic priority is to marshal a united Western response to Chinese behavior.
China’s increasing assertiveness and contempt for Europe has soured many European leaders’ views on President Xi Jinping’s regime, creating an opportunity that Biden dare not miss. Strange as it may sound, the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline connecting Germany to Russia is now at the center of Biden’s efforts to woo Europe — particularly Germany — away from China.