Supalak Ganjanakhundee

Asean has a lot of work to do for the sake of its own relevancy as Myanmar and Bangladesh make another attempt to repatriate thousands of Muslim Rohingyas to strife-torn Rakhine state.

In 1986, the then Philippine President Corazon Aquino met with China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping to discuss the South China Sea issue.

After years of negotiations, Asean and China signed the Declaration on the Conduct which cited that the contracting parties should exercise restraint in activities that could complicate or escalate disputes.

Rhetoric has come full circle in the dispute over the South China Sea but can the Philippines, the current chair of Asean and a claimant