Southeast Asian foreign ministers hold a closed-doors retreat in Malaysia on Sunday, as the country hosts its first meeting as chair of the regional bloc ASEAN amid an intensifying civil war in Myanmar and confrontations in the South China Sea.

Southeast Asian foreign ministers are gathering for their first meeting this year under the regional bloc’s new chair, Malaysia, seeking a breakthrough over Myanmar’s drawn-out civil war and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

The regional bloc ASEAN and China should make headway on a protracted code of conduct for the South China Sea by tackling thorny "milestone issues", including its scope and if it can be legally binding,