By David Brunnstrom

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. top diplomat for East Asia will travel to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore from this weekend. This is after President Joe Biden promised increased engagement with Southeast Asia. It’s a crucial battleground for his fight for influence with China.

The assistant secretary for East Asia Daniel Kritenbrink will visit the region on Saturday, Dec. 4 according to a State Department announcement.

Kritenbrink stated that it would “reaffirm America’s commitment to cooperate… to address the most serious regional and global challenges” and emphasize U.S. support “a rules-based Indo-Pacific Order.” It was making reference to China’s increasing assertiveness within the Indo-Pacific region. This behavior, Washington has consistently denounced as coercive, is what Kritenbrink suggested.

The statement stated that Kritenbrink would discuss “human rights challenges”, seek to strengthen cooperation on climate change, and explore ways to press Myanmar’s military government into allowing humanitarian access and ending violence.

It said that he will discuss ways to improve economic relations and how to “build back better” from the COVID-19 epidemic.

Biden was in the virtual summit with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations last month. It was the first time Washington had been at this level for four years.

He pledged support to ASEAN for democracy and freedom at sea, and stated that Washington will begin discussions on developing a region economic framework. Critics say this is a missing element of his Asia strategy, which was abandoned by Donald Trump in the regional trade pact.

A diplomat from Asia stated that regional countries are still waiting for details about this plan. This was in recognition of Biden’s emphasis on domestic economic strength, which is a limitation.

Daniel Russel, a predecessor of Kritenbrink in the Obama administration, said a key question for ASEAN was “whether the United States truly has a viable economic strategy” for the region.

He said, “The promise to discuss ways U.S. economy engagement with ASEAN nations is music to them, even though they may feel overwhelmed by the economic framework’ so far.”

Kritenbrink announced his trip to emphasize the importance of ASEAN’s 10-members to regional affairs. However, he won’t visit Cambodia’s new seat, as the bloc has moved closer to China.

Russel, an Asian diplomat, said Kritenbrink is likely to travel to other ASEAN nations soon. Russel pointed out that Indonesia’s capital Jakarta houses the permanent headquarters of the bloc.

Russel explained that it was crucial to talk about ASEAN with the chair in 2022, but he would be more comfortable visiting ASEAN Headquarters in Jakarta to initiate the discussion.