ASEAN is a club of ten countries in Southeast Asia. They meet so that trade can grow, daily life can get better, and cultures can mix without war getting in the way. The members are Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and the Philippines. News and business people say ASEAN all the time for this group, and sometimes they stretch it to mean “that whole corner of Asia.” Though actually it is a real organisation with rules and meetings, not just a nickname for the map — and Taiwan is not a member. The letters stand for Association of Southeast Asian Nations. English speakers do not all say it the same way; you will hear something like “ASH-ee-an” or “AH-see-ahn.”