Instead of playing the traditional great power game of divide and conquer or resisting the formation of any effective bloc of surrounding powers, China cooperated with the northward expansion of ASEAN to include all of China's closest neighboring countries in the Indo-China peninsula. Indo-China peninsula
The chair of Asean, the organisation of the 10 nations of south east Asia, confidently told me that the Asean Economic Community AECC) that they are concluding by the end of the year will rival not only the European Union, a single market with a similar population, but the United States as well.
The oil-rich sultanate, a dot on the coast of Borneo, is home to just 400,000 out of ASEAN's population of 600m.
Pushpanathan Sundram, deputy secretary general of Asean for Asean Economic Community, acknowledged that there would be "some costs involved" for some countries when the free trade area took effect, but he said he believed China and Asean would "mutually benefit".
Thailand, a member of ASEAN, buys most of Burma's gas and other commodities.
This Call, which commits leaders to put children at the centre of the HIV response, was endorsed by ASEAN Heads of State and Government at their 12th Summit Special Session on HIV and AIDS in the Philippines in 2007.
Two of the Asean leaders, Goh Chok Tong of Singapore and Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand, say they urgently want a common market in Southeast Asia so that the region can face China from a position of strength.
Asean has of course called for Suu Kyi's release.
On its 45th birthday newspapers and blogs are at last paying ASEAN plenty of attention, though marked more by despair than praise.
