ASEAN’s non-recognition of the elections in Myanmar, which a military-backed party claimed to have won, is a major blow to efforts by the country’s military rulers to gain international recognition. Myanmar’s military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party claimed Monday that it had won the elections. China has expansive claims in the waterway, a key global trade route, that overlap with those of four ASEAN members, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei. Several ASEAN members have expressed deep concern over the secretive U.S. strike that resulted in the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on orders from U.S. President Donald Trump. China’s intensifying aggressive stance on Taiwan and in the disputed South China Sea have also troubled the region for years.