A report by CSIS Pacific Forum President Ralph Cossa, Mulitlateral Progress on Multiple Fronts, was quoted by the Economist, &qu

HUMAN-RIGHTS campaigners called for the dictators of Myanmar (Burma) to be uninvited from this week's 40th-anniversary summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), following their bloody crackdown on anti-government protests in September. The American Senate unanimously insisted that Myanmar be suspended from the organisation. Needless to say, these demands were ignored. General Thein Sein, Myanmar's prime minister, was instead welcomed as “a family-member” to the party in Singapore.

On November 20th the general and leaders of the other nine member countries signed a new ASEAN charter. This is meant to transform the block into a European Union-style single market by 2015 and guarantee democracy and human rights for the region's 570m people. He had no qualms about signing, for the charter contains little more than waffle. It commits ASEAN's leaders to nothing that matters.

ASEAN also lags far behind the European Union in economic integration. Its promise of an integrated market for goods, services, capital and labour by 2015 seems fanciful. The eminent persons' report argued that ASEAN must start delivering on such big talk if it is to remain relevant in the face of China's and India's rise. A recent report by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, an American think-tank, noted that only about 30% of ASEAN's agreements are ever implemented. If a 70% discount has to be applied to everything the region's leaders promise, they should not be surprised if the world regards them as subprime: a risky bet.

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