Days after his presidential inauguration, Joe Biden, who had promised to reset some of the most critical elements of US-China relations, declared that China must expect “extreme competition” from the US.

What this means has been in full display over the past couple of weeks. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, resurrected by former US president Donald Trump, met in early March. Made up of the US, Australia, Japan and India, it is a loose alliance aimed at arriving at consensus on how to deal with China in the region...