The U.S. will work with a strategically important coalition of Southeast Asian countries, President Joe Biden said, adding the U.S. intends to build the better future we all want to see in the region.

Biden's efforts at this year's ASEAN summit are intended to set the stage for his long-awaited meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since Biden took office.

Biden and Jinping will meet Monday at the G-20 summit of leaders of the world's largest economies, which will be held this year in Indonesia on the island of Bali.

While in Phnom Penh earlier Saturday, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Biden would raise issues such as China's freedom of navigation and fishing with ASEAN leaders to demonstrate U.S. assertiveness toward Beijing.

The United States says it can sail and fly wherever it is allowed under international law, and China believes such missions are destabilizing. Sullivan said the U.S. has a key role to play as a stabilizing force in the region and in preventing any country from engaging in sustained intimidation and coercion that would be fundamentally disadvantageous to ASEAN and other countries.

Biden's visit to Cambodia continues his administration's desire to demonstrate investment in the South Pacific, which was emphasized earlier this year when the White House held an ASEAN summit in Washington.