After a relatively slow start, the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has embarked on a diplomatic offensive across Southeast Asia, the new theater of great power competition.

Within a matter of weeks, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as well as Vice President Kamala Harris visited key members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, specifically Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Against the backdrop of the withdrawal debacle in Afghanistan, the incidental timing of the visits also helped soothe lingering anxieties over American commitment to the region. By and large, the Biden administration seems determined to rally not only like-minded Indo-Pacific powers such as Japan, India and Australia, but also front-line ASEAN states, which share similar anxieties over a resurgent China.