As Harris acknowledged, much is at stake in a region which will “in large part … dictate the future of our world.” The vice president’s choice of destinations among the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also brought into sharp relief the Biden administration’s emerging Indo-Pacific strategy.
Singapore and Vietnam hosted the second American cabinet-level official in less than a month, having hosted US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin just weeks earlier. This reflects Washington’s growing reliance on perceived as likeminded and reliable regimes rather than unwieldy allies such as Thailand or non-aligned democratic powers such as Indonesia.
