In coming months, Asia will see more high-level visits by senior American officials, Mr Steinberg, the Deputy Secretary of State, told The Sunday Times in an interview.

In July, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend a Asean Regional Forum meeting in Thailand. In February, she had visited Indonesia, China, South Korea and Japan. And later this year, President Barack Obama is expected to attend an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting to be held here.

'Even though it hasn't been formally announced, I am confident that the President will be here for Apec. I have a high degree of confidence that he'd do it,' said Mr Steinberg.

The Bush administration was seen to be too preoccupied by America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to focus on Asean and Asia. In recent years, Dr Condoleezza Rice - Ms Clinton's predecessor - skipped several Asean summits, leading some Asean members to doubt Washington's commitment to Asia.

The coming visits will 'reflect a very strong commitment...it's a real recognition that a critical part of our future is bound up in this region. We are here', said Mr Steinberg.

He had accompanied US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates to the Shangri-La Dialogue - the first time two senior US officials had attended the meeting simultaneously.

And while the Bush administration refused to sign Asean's Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC), the Obama administration is now negotiating terms for signing the treaty.

The TAC requires contracting parties to forgo any threat or use of force against each other. It is a requirement for access to the East Asia Summit.

Mr Steinberg is a career scholar who had previously worked for leading think-tank Rand Corp and the Washington-based Brookings Institution. He was also former president Bill Clinton's deputy national security adviser.

Read the full story in The Sunday Times today.

williamc@sph.com.sg