With the first meeting of Biden Administration officials and representatives from the Chinese government wrapped up, the initial two interactions with the key two US international adversaries have demonstrated the strong backbone Biden will deal with foreign foes.

Per a Washington Post article, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken squared off with his Chinese counterparts, telling them in no uncertain terms that the US views China as a threat to “global stability” for their human rights and trade practices, as well as their aggression toward Taiwan.

Earlier this week, Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “killer” with “no soul,” a statement that Putin took so personally he lashed out at Biden, calling for a live debate he wanted to happen Friday night.  Putin was so flustered he ended up using a playground retort to respond.

The stance of the United States is now a complete reversal of the Trump Administration, when Donald Trump said “I believe Putin” over American intelligence services and American allies.  It’s a far cry from the Chinese government handing Trump’s daughter valuable Chinese trademarks while she worked in the White House and Trump pampered Chinese President Xi with “a beautiful piece of chocolate cake” and rounds of golf.

The American posture now is grounded in reality, not real estate transactions.

Of course, unlike Trump, Biden’s position is nuanced.  He understands China is a world economic power, and a major trading partner with the United States, vital to various industries in the nation.  While Trump tended to shoot and ask questions later–causing the US to spend tens of billions of dollars to prop up industries harmed by poorly-implemented foreign policy–Biden is playing a long game.

“We wanted to share with them the significant concerns that we have about a number of the actions that China has taken . . . and we did that,” Blinken said. “We also wanted to lay out very clearly, our own policies, priorities and worldview. And we did that, too.”