2008 ASEAN said Southeast Asian and UN experts will have full access to cyclone-

Jun 12 devastated parts of Myanmar, where more than a million people have still not received
any foreign help.
2008 In Singapore the 10 members of ASEAN adopted a common charter that included a
Jul 21 list of 15 purposes.
2008 In Singapore North Korea's reclusive communist regime, long seen as a nuclear threat
Jul 24 to the region, signed a nonaggression pact with Southeast Asia, in a largely symbolic
move. The Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) with the Association of the
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) came into force in 1976, requires signatories to
renounce the use or threat of force and calls for the peaceful settlement of conflicts.
2008 Indonesia's parliament ratified the Southeast Asian charter committing ASEAN
Oct 21 member nations to promote democracy and human rights, clearing the way for its
formal adoption before year's end. Anti-terrorism police seized bomb-making materials
and a large cache of weapons and ammunition during a raid on a house in Jakarta.
Anti-terrorism squads arrested five suspected Islamic radicals believed to have been
plotting to blow up Indonesia's largest fuel depot.
2008 The Association of Southeast Asian Nations moved to forge an EU-style community,
Dec signing a charter that makes the bloc a legal entity for the first time and could pave the
15 way for creating a single market within seven years.
2009 In Thailand prominent activists from military-ruled Myanmar and Cambodia were
Feb 28 barred from a meeting with Southeast Asian leaders (ASEAN), upstaging the opening
of the annual summit billed as a historic step toward greater human rights in the
region.
2009 In Thailand Southeast Asian leaders (ASEAN) vowed to push ahead with ambitious
Mar 1 plans to become a European Union-style economic community by 2015 despite
roadblocks posed by the global financial crisis and Myanmar's dismal human rights
record.
2009 In Thailand Southeast Asian foreign ministers (ASEAN) endorsed the region's first
Jul 20 human rights watchdog, rejecting criticisms that the body would be powerless to tackle
rogue members such as Myanmar. 2 assailants on a motorcycle shot and killed a
Buddhist man who was traveling on a road in Pattani province.
2009 An Indian official said 8 South Asian countries have agreed they can't be part of any
Oct 20 climate change deal that sets legally binding limits on their emissions.
2009 In Thailand the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations began
Oct 23 inauspiciously when half the bloc's 10 leaders failed to show up at the opening of the
3-day conference due to a tropical storm, domestic politics, a VIP visit and a possible
illness. ASEAN nations inaugurated their first regional human rights commission, a
watchdog immediately derided as toothless by activists who walked out of a meeting
to protest being snubbed by five of the governments involved.
2009 In Singapore President Barack Obama said the United States and Russia would have
Nov a replacement treaty on reducing nuclear arms ready for approval by year's end, an
15 announcement designed as an upbeat ending to a summit with Asia-Pacific leaders.
Obama also attended a second summit with leaders of the 10 southeast Asian
countries that make up the ASEAN group. Obama then arrived in Shanghai, launching
a three-day visit to an important global US partner and his first travels ever in China.
2010 A free-trade agreement between China and the 10 members of the Association of
Jan 1 Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) came into effect. The 6 richest members scrapped
tariffs on 90% of goods. The 4 poorest (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar) will not
need to cut tariffs to the same level until 2015.
2011 Ministers from around the Asia-Pacific region signed a non-binding framework
Mar 30 agreement to tackle smuggling networks and humanely process the large numbers of
migrants moving through the region.
2011 Cambodia accused Thailand of invading its territory on the opening day of a summit of
May 7 Southeast Asian leaders that was supposed to focus on plans to create a regional
economic zone.
2011 The 3-day East Asia Summit (EAS), bringing together the 10-member Association of
Nov South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and eight dialogue partners, opened on the
17 Indonesian resort island of Bali. President Barack Obama became the first US leader
to attend an East Asia summit. Leaders from 18 nations gathered to discuss territorial
disputes in the South China Sea, democratic reforms in military-dominated Myanmar,
mitigating natural disasters, currency, trade and other issues.
2012 The 10-member ASEAN group plus China, Japan, and South Korea (ASEAN+3)
Mar agreed to the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) to come to each other’s
aid in liquidity crisis.
2012 ASEAN leaders in Cambodia issued a statement showing a veneer of unity and
Apr 4 promising to "intensify efforts" toward the full implementation of an agreement, signed
10 years earlier, to "promote peace." The association paralyzed by differences over
how to deal with regional superpower China's claims to strategic islands in the South
China Sea.

ASEAN leaders called for Western countries, including the European Union, to
immediately lift punitive sanctions imposed on Myanmar now that the once-pariah
nation has embraced democratic reforms.
2012 In Cambodia the 10-member ASEAN group ended its latest meeting for the first time
Jul 13 without a communique reflecting a rift between countries loyal to China and those
contesting territory with China.
2012 Cambodia hosted the 10-member ASEAN summit of Southeast Asian countries. Talks
Nov for a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) were formally launched
17 between the member states at the ASEAN Summit in Cambodia. It was scheduled to
be finalized by the end of 2017.
2012 In Cambodia Asean leaders decided to ask China to start formal talks "as soon as
Nov possible" on crafting a legally binding accord aimed at preventing an outbreak of
18 violence in disputed South China Sea territories. ASEAN leaders also adopted a
human rights declaration despite last-minute calls for a postponement by critics.
2012 Talks for a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) were formally
Nov launched between ten member state at the ASEAN Summit in Cambodia. It was
scheduled to be finalized by the end of 2017.
2013 Myanmar took a long-coveted role as chairman of ASEAN, the regional grouping of
Oct 10 Southeast Asia.
2013 Japan and Southeast Asian countries (ASEAN) called for freedom of the air and sea,
Dec as China's military assertiveness raises regional tensions.
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