Commentary “We’re in a contest, not with China per se, but with autocrats and autocratic governments around the world as to whether democracies can compete with them in a rapidly changing 21st century,” President Joe Biden told the global public on June 13. Biden and the G7 are pumping a democracy-led international development initiative to counter China’s Belt and Road projects. But with Biden taking the message to NATO, which released a statement on June 14 calling China a “systemic challenge,” the competition is not only economic, but increasingly, military. China’s reaction to Biden’s statement against autocracy was swift. It used it to paint Biden’s motives as “sinister,” a claim that will now have more weight with the world’s dictators. By targeting not just China, but other autocrats, Biden has, in the short-term at least, just made America’s fight against China much more difficult. Many dictators previously had perfect reason …