Asean now a US protectorate?

Is Asean a US protectorate? From what the Americans are saying or doing, it appears so. In mypaper's front page news today, it has this, 'US: We'll protect states unnerved by China.' This statement was made in Vietnam prior to the Asia defence talks attended by all the Asean defence ministers plus China, US, Japan and other Asia countries.

What did Asean do to deserve this honour? Isn't Asean