BATAM, Indonesia: Militaries from members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) began their first-ever joint exercises in Indonesia on Tuesday, with a Myanmar representative present despite the regional organization's ban on its junta leaders.

Southeast Asian countries have participated in multinational defense drills before, but these are the first featuring just the 10-member bloc, which is battling perceptions of irrelevance on major regional issues such as the ongoing turmoil in Myanmar and disputes in the South China Sea.