I think this is actually more a matter of taste. Been there, done that. These days I prefer to just mix in my language of choice with HTML instead of mixing it in with some extra templating language that basically does the same but is harder to read and reason about. But that is the whole debate about jsx in a nutshell I guess.
Considering Reacts popularity, it is an interesting question though if templating languages replaced php and asp or are on the way out again in favor of that style of coding.
Yes I agree it's essentially the same debate. I think it has to do with subjective taste as well as what kind of app you're building (ie. how much HTML are you templating out?)
Edit: I will add that I have some experience working on apps that do both ways - React mixing HTML and CSS into the JS code (JSX) and Vue with its strange template language which extends HTML for somewhat the opposite approach. I don't really like either one that much. I still actually prefer the string templating library era as cleaner but not without its flaws.
Considering Reacts popularity, it is an interesting question though if templating languages replaced php and asp or are on the way out again in favor of that style of coding.