Perhaps most significantly the Chinese were willing to allow humanitarian agencies such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the FAO and the WHO to enter the country, but they were opposed in principle to the entry of Western armed forces. This may help to explain the second significant development, which followed a meeting between Than Shwe and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Naypyitaw on 23 May. It was after this meeting that Burma lifted restrictions on aid workers of all nationalities entering the country and accessing the disaster area. When seeking to determine why and how the Burmese regime adjusted its response to Cyclone Nargis it would be wise to look north to Beijing rather than closer to home to its neighbouring states’efforts via ASEAN. This should give some pause for thought about cooperation in one area of activity (disaster management) spilling over into other ASEAN areas of cooperation.