United States President Barack Obama is hopscotching through China's neighbourhood with a carefully calibrated message for Beijing, trying both to counter and court.
During visits to US allies, Obama has signalled that American military power can blunt Chinese aggression in the Asia-Pacific region, even as he urges Beijing to use its growing clout to help resolve international disputes with Russia and North Korea.
The dual tracks underscore Beijing's outsized importance to Obama's four-country swing through Asia, even though China is absent from his itinerary.
The president opened a long-awaited visit to Malaysia today, following stops in Japan and South Korea, and ahead of a visit to the Philippines.
Obama's trip comes at a tense time for the region, where China's aggressive stance in territorial disputes has its smaller neighbours on edge.
There also are continued questions about the White House's commitment to a greater US focus on Asia. In an affirmation, Obama is expected to sign a security agreement with the Philippines clearing the way for an increased American troop presence there.
In Tokyo, Obama asserted that a treaty obligating the US to defend Japan would apply if Beijing makes a move on a string of islands in the East China Sea that Japan administers but China also claims.
Yet at times, the president has tempered his tough talk in an attempt to avoid antagonising Beijing.
To the chagrin of the Japanese, Obama said the US would not pick sides in the sovereignty claims at the heart of the region's territorial disputes. He repeatedly declared that the US is not asking Asian allies to choose between a relationship with Washington and Beijing.
"I think there is enormous opportunities for trade, development, working on common issues like climate change with China," Obama said during a news conference in Tokyo. "But what we have also emphasised and I will continue to emphasise throughout this trip is that all of us have responsibilities to help maintain basic rules of the road and an international order."
"China's influence in North Korea is indeed huge," South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Friday during Obama's visit to Seoul.
Beijing has a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and has supported some efforts to penalise North Korea, but has not taken sweeping unilateral actions to choke off the North's economy.
As with North Korea, the crisis in Ukraine has again put Obama in the position of asking China to prioritise international order over its own close relationship with Moscow.
Obama's visit to Malaysia is the first by an American president since Lyndon B Johnson travelled here more than four decades ago. Obama was feted by Malaysia's royal family at a state dinner today and had meetings planned tomorrow with the prime minister and young Southeast Asian leaders.
