BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Reuters) – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed with China to upgrade their relationship to the level of comprehensive strategic partnership, ASEAN chair Brunei said on Thursday, a day after reaching a similar deal with Australia.
Responding to a question on whether Myanmar would be expelled from ASEAN over its failure to implement a peace plan, Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah told a news conference the country’s membership of ASEAN was never in question and Myanmar was an integral part of the ASEAN family.
(Reporting by Ain Bandial and in A. Ananthalakshmi in Kuala Lumpir; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by James Pearson)
