This week began with the 26th Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Foreign Ministers Meeting. Malaysia is this year's ASEAN chair taking over after Myanmar. Included in the ASEAN agenda were: the ASEAN Economic Community by the end of 2015 and the various initiatives to strengthen the region based on three pillars, namely, the ASEAN Political-Security Community, the ASEAN Economic Community, and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community; the development of the ASEAN Community’s Post-2015 Vision and its Attendant Documents; as well as the progress in drawing up the Code of Conduct to address disputes in the South China Sea (SCS). Addressing the disputes in the SCS should be high on the agenda of the ASEAN and put pressure to member countries to take a collective stand against China’s alarming and increasing military aggressiveness and massive reclamation activities in the area. While not all ASEAN members are involved in the disputes, a clear position of the ASEAN is necessary if the ASEAN wants to assume and exercise significant regional influence.

Mendoza, D. J. (2015, April 28). The ASEAN and South China Sea disputes. BusinessWorld, p. S1/4.