Abstract: "This article argues that ASEAN?s policy toward Myanmar has been predominantly responsive, dictated by China?s activism in the region. It posits three arguments: First, that the release of political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, may have been a tactical move to convince ASEAN to award it the 2014 chairmanship and thereby consolidate the legitimacy of the current regime; second, that Thein Sein?s suspension of the Myitsone Dam was a strategic move intended to please both domestic and ASEAN constituencies; and third, that Myanmar?s chairmanship of ASEAN in 2014 will help justify the organisation?s past approach to Burma as well as accelerate the process of community-building. The paper argues that in spite of the growing interconnectedness between ASEAN and China, ASEAN is locked in a strategic tug-of-war with China over Myanmar. Myanmar has, on multiple occasions, played upon ASEAN?s suspicion of China by playing the ?China card,? as I term it, forcing ASEAN to continually legitimise it through public statements."...  Manuscript received 13 January 2012; accepted 5 April 2012... Keywords: PR China, Burma, ASEAN, community-building