China the spectre at the feast as Biden aims to rally democracies on Europe trip

The US president has become convinced that Beijing is the main adversary in a global battle of governance systems

The unifying theme behind Joe Biden's European tour this week is a country which will not be at any of the meetings and may not even be mentioned in the final communiques: China.

Before setting out on his first foreign trip as president, Biden has made clear that the competition between the world's democracies and its authoritarian regimes - mostly importantly Beijing - is the defining global challenge of the age, with victory anything but guaranteed for the US and its allies.