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Over the last few days, former CIA chief and current US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has trekked across Asia for a series of security meetings. Panetta first visited Indonesia, where he met Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro and was said to have stressed military and human-rights reforms as a necessary condition for continued cooperation with the US military.

He also visited 10 defense secretaries attending an Asean meeting in Bali and chatted with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, then moved on to meet with senior officials in Japan and South Korea, including Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and President Lee Myung-bak.

This is the latest diplomatic effort in the Obama administration’s push to highlight the importance of Asia to US foreign policy. In less than three years on the job, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has visited the region seven times. She recently penned an article in Foreign Policy magazine in which she outlined Washington’s intent to devote substantially more diplomatic, economic and security resources to Asia in the coming years. In a prior visit to Indonesia in 2009, Clinton signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, and the United States has since upgraded its activity in Asian institutions such as Asean and APEC.

Washington also just completed a trade deal with South Korea and launched the bilateral “Strategic and Economic Dialogue” with China, which is designed as a problem-solving workshop for the two countries. The United States also has clearly beefed up its ties with India and worked to enhance its security and military relations in Australia and Singapore.

Indonesia hasn’t been neglected by America’s investment in the region. An array of high-profile US officials from the Obama administration have already visited, including former Department of Defense head Robert Gates, Clinton and Barack Obama, and Obama will be back to Indonesia in November for the East Asia Summit. The United States has also resumed training Indonesia special forces, signed bilateral agreements on a number of issues and established a US Mission to Asean in Jakarta.

What do all these moves mean? First, Washington sees Asia as a crucial hub for a number of important, arguably globally defining, matters including trade and finance issues, economic growth, security, nuclear proliferation, cybersecurity, climate change and human rights.

Second, Obama wants to solidify America’s leadership in the region. The United States is beginning to transition away from focusing so much on the Middle East. It is soon ending its war in Iraq and is in the process of drawing down its forces in Afghanistan. In place of its near obsession with the politics and violence of that region, the Obama administration wants to spend more time and energy on Asia.

Many American academics, journalists, bureaucrats and elected officials, including Obama himself, seem convinced that the 21st century will be defined by countries like China, India and Indonesia. This is an area of the world that can’t be ignored. Military might, economic growth and population expansion — three key indicators of power — all tell us that power is likely, though not definitively, shifting eastward. If the United States is not fully engaged in the region and is instead distracted and preoccupied with other world affairs, it risks being passed by.

Third, we are seeing clear signs of how much America values its budding relationship with Indonesia. In Clinton’s own words, the United States is “forging a new partnership with Indonesia.” It’s easy to see why that’s the case.

For a country with considerable PR problems during the last decade, it makes enormous political sense for America to cultivate good ties with the world’s third-largest democracy and most populous Muslim country. If nothing else, it’s a good reminder to the rest of the Muslim world that democracy and Islam can work together. Indonesia is a key American ally in the fight against terrorism. Continued support for Indonesia, Washington hopes, reinforces its largely successful move toward democracy. And, of course, it’s always beneficial to maintain good relations with a country like Indonesia in such a fast-moving and uncertain region.

Lastly, we ought not forget the China factor. While there are some in Washington who fear the rise of China, the current White House doesn’t. But it does have doubts and suspicions about China, and so it has tried to envelop China in a web of interdependencies via bilateral and multilateral ties. The prevailing wisdom is that these will make it too costly for China to wreck relations with the US and other countries in Asia.

But just in case this doesn’t work, America has a back-up plan. Over decades, it has created security ties and diplomatic relations with many Asian countries. America has thousands of troops in the region, is a major supplier of arms and has good military contacts in Asia. This is all to keep China in check.

Panetta’s visit can be seen in this light. While Clinton and others work to reassure China in various ways, Panetta looks to galvanize support from Asian defense officials. This alerts China to the reality that, despite its growing power, it faces constraints in Asia. It must not act too aggressively, because there’s potenitally a counter-coalition of nations, the United States included, that might confront Beijing. It’s a political game with risks, and the United States must be careful not to inflame China.

Brad Nelson is president and co-founder of the Center for World Conflict and Peace, a research organization with offices in Ohio and Jakarta.