The region covered by the Asean is like a gated community.
Everybody does business with each other but also tend to mind their own business. The region enjoys the highest economic growth of any area on Earth. Borders are well defined and nobody is at war with anyone else. Each nation holds its own national interest as the top priority but that does not interfere with bilateral relations. There is cooperation and mutual assistance.
In fact, the only serious and significant problem is that big and, sometimes nasty, interfering neighbor down the road—China. And China is a problem that Asean has been trying to come to terms with for many years.
The one part of the region that affects all the member-states is the South China Sea. Asean has been trying to put together a Code of Conduct (COC) to govern the disputed South China Sea for more than a decade, long before China militarily occupied those waters. All of Asean have vested interests, with Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam deep in the discussions. But part of the reason for the delay is that only two countries—the Philippines and Vietnam—have to deal directly with that area on a daily basis.
Confusing the issue of the COC is that Taiwan also has its finger in the pie with territorial claims against the Philippines in the Luzon Strait, the northern part of South China Sea, and even with areas off the Vietnamese coast and as far south as the Natuna Islands located near the island of Borneo.
You might think that Asean would be firmly dedicated to getting something on paper to straighten out this mess. No such luck.
The COC is still at the framework stage and even the current draft framework document is little more than a nonbinding agreement with scant legal enforcement that simply commits all parties to “play nice” with each other. And the idea that any agreement from Asean that would actually condemn Chinese government activities in the South China Sea is far from reality. Vietnam is the only country that is really pushing for Asean to step up and fight back. But even Vietnam knows that is not going to happen, and its strong complaining may be more for good government public relations to its citizens.
Given the chance, at the current meetings in Manila, Asean would probably like to see a best-of-three arm wrestling match between the foreign ministers of the US and China to decide who “wins” the South China Sea. But since that is not on the official agenda, Asean has found a way to basically avoid the whole South China Sea disputed territory issue.
The problem of North Korea, its potential for effective intercontinental missiles and its nuclear-weapons programs, is a global issue that can only be handled through the United Nations and the “Six-Party Talks”, which include Japan, Russia and South Korea.
But since China is not openly threatening any one with a nuclear-weapons attack, the current and ongoing tensions on the Korean peninsula gives Asean an opportunity to issue a strong statement against North Korea, give the impression of being relevant, and use the North Korean “serious threat to global peace and security” as an excuse to ignore the China issue.