The founding members of ASEAN, namely Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines, have long advocated the idea that by including Myanmar into the organisation and upgrading the country's despondent economy, they could contain its brutal regime and help the national reconciliation process. The US and Western allies opposed the move back then saying the inclusion would only prolong the regime's survival, give it legitimacy, and end its isolation.

Developments since 1997, the year in which Myanmar joined the organisation as a full member, have proved that the US and its Western allies were right. ASEAN failed to convince Myanmar to move on a roadmap to democracy and on stopping to target the ethnic minorities. In last two years, the Myanmar ruling State Peace and Development Council not only continued its brutal policies but proved to be one of the region's most ruthless regimes. Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is still passing her days being house arrested by the military rulers. 

Systematic campaigns by Myanmar's army are still forcing the civilians and ethnic insurgent groups out of the country's central and northern regions into border areas by attacking their food supplies, burning their villages, destroying their fields and rice stores, and severing them from sources of intelligence and funds. There have been dramatic increases in the numbers of villagers fleeing across the border into refugee camps in Thailand, which currently hosts nearly 150,000 Myanmar people. 

ASEAN nevertheless forced Yangon in mid 2005 to agree to forego its turn for the rotating chairmanship of the grouping in 2006. Additionally, it made Myanmar agree to receive Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar as an ASEAN special envoy for discussion on political reforms. But Albar's visit to Yangon in 2006 was a total failure as he neither could meet the SPDC's head General Than Shwe, nor the opposition leader Suu Kyi. This clearly shows Army ruler?s unwillingness to cooperate. 

With these retrograding developments, the US could not wait longer, which led them to sponsor a draft resolution at the UN Security Council that called Myanmar to free all detainees, release Suu Kyi, respect human rights and move towards democracy and national reconciliation. The resolution, which was proposed on the grounds that the political and human rights climate in Myanmar was a threat to regional peace and global security, did not pass because China and Russia used their veto power to block it. China did it because it fears that the US Army eventually will place its foot in Myanmar and pose a threat to Chinese dominance in the region. 

The ASEAN-China relationship in the early years was tentative at best. Not long after came a big push: the Asian economic crisis in late 1997. While the US, for its own reasons, was slow to come to rescue, China readily responded to ASEAN?s acute need, with an immediate promise not to devalue its currency. After the 9/11 incident, the increasing focus of the US on homeland security , Central Asia and the Middle East was accompanied by a negligence of Southeast Asia. China capitalized this situation. In 2001, China made a diplomatic masterpiece by proposing a free-trade agreement with ASEAN to accelerate its cooperation with ASEAN, thus maintaining and even building its momentum in Southeast Asia. Therefore, ASEAN leaders are likely to favor Myanmar and China over the US if any situation occurs.

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