China’s interests in and expectations from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and Central Asia often overlap. China is currently developing cooperative institutions in areas such as security, energy, and economic development, among others. Subsequently, China finds itself in-between the SCO and Central Asia’s most difficult questions and dilemmas.

This article examines ASEAN's cooperation on transboundary haze pollution. I argue that ASEAN's creation of the haze treaty in 2002 demonstrates its attempt to depart from certain elements of the institutional culture. But both ASEAN's treaty and cooperation have been hindered by certain normative constraints, organizational customs, and domestic politics.