In Europe, Biden’s battle for democracy is no longer just a slogan

When President Joe Biden laid out his vision of a global battle to save democracy at the Munich Security Conference in February 2021, his call for democracies to join together to “fight for, … strengthen, and renew” their governing principles struck many as just another intellectual flourish.

And when the newly inaugurated president added with confidence that “democratic partners working together” would be able to “meet every challenge and outpace every challenger,” the assumption in his audience was that the central challenger he referred to was China.

As Mr. Biden...