Myanmar’s delicate dance with ASEAN    
  

In a controversial visit by a Burmese delegation to China, President Thein Sein recently announced that Naypyidaw fully supports Beijing’s contention that it owns most of the South China Sea (to which at least six other Asian states have historically laid claim). Separately, recent speeches by both U.S. Senator John McCain and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have pointed out Naypyidaw’s failure to improve its abysmal human-rights record, despite its membership in ASEAN since 1997. At first glance, it seems that ASEAN’s influence over Naypyidaw is minimal at best, and that Myanmar has been grossly disloyal to its nine Southeast Asian partners. (CogitAsia)

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