Middle powers in the Indo-Pacific are faced with a trifecta of pressures including China’s re-emergence as central pole in the region, deepening Sino-U.S. strategic competition, and questions related to U.S. leadership in the region. Specific concerns related to China include maritime security, the openness of the emerging digital economy, and the practice of coercive economic behavior, to which middle powers are vulnerable. To respond to these pressures some middle powers are adapting to these changing dynamics and transforming their middle power diplomacy towards what the author coins as neo-middle power diplomacy. This new type of diplomacy proactively engages in behavior which includes lobbying, insulating, and rulemaking in the realms of security, trade and international law, and aims to ensure that middle powers’ interests are not affected by the Sino-U.S. strategic competition.