At this year’s NATO summit in Washington, US President Joe Biden warned his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that Beijing will continue to assist Moscow after NATO labeled China a “strict facilitator” in Russia’s war against Ukraine. He warned that there would be “a price to pay” if he did so.

For the third year in a row, Indo-Pacific countries attended the meeting of the transatlantic security alliance, which also includes US chip partners Japan and South Korea and Five Eyes allies Australia and New Zealand.

The NATO meeting was just one of Biden’s efforts to include more countries in coalitions that have bolstered U.S. geopolitical power for decades. Observers say they inflict a degree of competitive “pain” on Beijing, from economics and technology to defence, and help craft a more unified “China threat” narrative among allies.

That lack of clarity, they say, could undermine the harmony he’s worked hard to create, especially if Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris, loses the presidential election on Tuesday to former president Donald Trump.

‘Block Conflict’