Forget niceties, there won't even be a final communiqué when China and the US wrap up two days of talks in Anchorage, Alaska. The first face-to-face sit-down between the Joe Biden administration and top envoys of Xi Jinping was never going to be a love-in considering Washington – just the day before – imposed sanctions on 24 top Chinese officials over China’s crackdown in Hong Kong. Once again, the new US president is making sure that superpower rivals – whether past, present and future - get the message that he's not anything like his predecessor.