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Freshly re-elected President Barack Obama's visit to Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia later this week will be an extremely important step to firm up his Asia-Pacific policy, often described as a "pivot" to the region.
The expected 80-hour stopover will embed the US presence and future power projection in the region in the context of China’s rising influence. It will also turn Asean into an arena where the world’s two superpowers can cajole, cooperate and compete.
Obama will become the first American leader to visit half of the Asean members during his first term. Vietnam could have been included in the itinerary this time but it was deliberately left out. Otherwise, the whole visit could easily be construed as a concerted effort to counter China's growing influence.
Despite the media spin that the US engagement with Asean comes at the region's repeated request, the rise of China and its growing confidence remains a major focus, if not obsession, of the US re-balancing in the Asia-Pacific. Certainly, the historic trip has zeroed in on the three Asean members with special relations with China.
The planned working visit to Bangkok beginning late on Sunday afternoon and ending the next morning with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will likely concentrate on reinvigorating Thai-US relations, especially the faltering Thai-US military alliance and its place in the new strategic environment in the region.