Why ASEAN and China defending Burma?

Why ASEAN and China are defending Burma?

The voice of ASEAN was very loud at the beginning of ASEAN summit; surprisingly to hear what Ong Keng Yong told reporters, "Myanmar is part of our family and it is the principle involved". Ong continued, "Our approach is not to take such a confrontational, drastic action, especially when it doesn't yield good results. His explanation seem to be quite reasonable if there was nothing happened in Burma. "Not only ASEAN rejected US's proposal to expel Burma from its team, but also canceled Gambary's briefing on Burma's subject in the summit.
It seem like ASEAN does not care the fact that military government brutally crackdown on recent peaceful protest. It is just because the members of ASEAN, themselves are brutal to their own citizens just like the junta? Or they have some other reasons hiding behind to do so? Why Myanmar is so important to ASEAN? Basically, if there is relationship, because there is an interest. As everyone knows, now Burma became the richest in Asia in term of natural gas. Recent news from different sources indicated that India, China, Thailand and many others are competing to buy natural gas. Among them, Junta's favorite is China, as it has been very supportive to Burma's regime since 1962. Most importantly, China always defended Burma along with its ally, Russia. In early 2007, UN security council meeting, China used double veto to defend the junta on the proposal of American and its allies. Consequently, Burmese activists living inside and abroad confronted Chinese embassies all over the world to condemn Chinese's action toward Burma's policy. It was not a good sign for China as it is going to have Olympic game in 2008. People worldwide are also encouraged to boycott 2008 Olympic. Despite China is powerful country for some reasons, it is still suffering economically.

However, the world has been changing than ever. 21st century is not the time Chinese army crashed their student activists in Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. China may want to improve its image by showing its tendency toward Burma's democratic reform. Moreover, China recently denied that they have no self interest on Burma's issue. The Chinese leaders may be the best who knows what they are doing!! The world is watching what they said and what they do are the same!