Russia's brutal and illegal invasion of Ukraine, tearing up the accepted international order, is rightly dominating the immediate foreign policy agenda of Western leaders.
It is striking however, how quickly their discussions switch to identifying another country - the People's Republic of China - as the "biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security".
With those words, the American FBI Director Christopher Wray concurred with an analysis by Ken McCallum, the director of MI5.
McCallum stated that China represents "the most game changing challenge we face". He has recently been backed up by rare public comments from the heads of Britain's two other intelligence agencies, GCHQ and MI6.
There is a focus on China this week because the five-yearly Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Congress opens in Beijing on Tuesday 18 October.
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Western politicians are rapidly re-adjusting their policies in response to actions taken by the Chinese and Russian leadership
Hopes that economic co-operation could benefit both East and West are being replaced by fears that Chinese aggression will result in competition, confrontation and, potentially, conflict.
The mood of British MPs was summed up this week by the election of the new chair of the all-party Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee to replace China hawk Tom Tugendhat, who has gone into the government as security minister.
Tugendhat is one of five MPs sanctioned by China for their criticisms. Another is Nusrat Ghani, who has been outspoken on the Uighurs. She has also re-joined the government as minister for science and security investment, both key interests for China.
If anything, the new chair Alicia Kearns, the Conservative MP for Rutland and Melton, has been more outspoken than her predecessor.
At the time of the high profile visit to the disputed island of Taiwan this summer by Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Ms Kearns got into a Twitter spat with Chinese government officials.
She forcefully rebutted their claims that Taiwan should be part of "One China" tweeting: "Except that history makes clear Taiwan is not an inseparable part of Chinese territory or history.
"In 1683 the Kangxi Emperor said that 'Taiwan is outside our empire and of no great consequence'. It wasn't until 1943 and, more so, 1949 that the CCP began to claim it."
At the Congress, Xi is expected to refer to Taiwan as a "special administrative area" like Hong Kong and Macau, implying falsely that it is already under Beijing's control.
Meanwhile, President Biden has ended carefully studied ambiguity by answering "yes" when asked if the US would respond militarily if China attacks Taiwan.
The Biden Administration has just approved its sixth arms package for Taiwan worth $1.1bn, including Harpoon anti-ship missiles.