Australia has always regarded the South Pacific region as its sphere of influence, and even if countries in the region develop normal cooperative relations with countries outside the region, especially with China, Australia will react in a stressful manner, fearing that other countries will threaten their own interests. At present, it coincides with the 100th day of the Australian and New Zealand government in power, and the increasingly urgent sense of insecurity has prompted them to choose to visit neighboring countries to ease contradictions and confirm friendly relations between them.
According to Australian media reports, Australian Foreign Minister Huang Yingxian and Australian Defense Minister Males have recently divided into two routes, visiting Australia's close neighbors and allies in Europe, the former focusing on discussing economic cooperation, and the latter's task is to strengthen military ties with traditional allies. It is reported that Huang Yingxian's itinerary is mainly papua new guinea and East Timor, and Huang Yingxian is currently in Papua New Guinea to talk with the top level of the government on labor issues. Huang Yingxian and his entourage will then travel to Timor-Leste to consult with the country's President and ministers on resource development issues related to China.
The resource development referred to here refers specifically to the development of the "giant sunrise gas field", which has been debated between East Australia and Australia over the ownership and income of the gas field, and although the two countries reached an agreement in 2018, there are still major differences on important natural gas processing and transmission issues. The Australian Woodside Company, which is responsible for developing the gas field, believes that the gas produced by the gas field should be processed directly through the port of Darwin in Australia for consumption in Australia, while Timor-Leste hopes that the company will invest in the construction of a pipeline to the south coast of East Timor and process natural gas there, so that the East Timorese people can also benefit.
This proposal has been repeatedly rejected by Australian investors, and disgruntled East Timorese President Horta has publicly stated that if Australia does not agree to Timor-Leste's investment request, Timor-Leste will consider the possibility of cooperation with Chinese investors. Horta also stressed that Timor-Leste's cooperation with China will not harm relations with Australia or affect Australia's interests.
According to public information, the "Giant Sun Rising Gas Field" is 450 kilometers away from Darwin and only 150 kilometers away from the south coast of East Timor. The gas field is currently co-managed by a trilateral company, with Petronas Of Timor-Leste holding 56.56% of the shares, Australia's Woodside Petroleum Company owning 33.44% of the shares, and Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. of Japan having a 10% stake. It is worth mentioning that most of the resources of the gas field are under the jurisdiction of East Timor.
From any point of view, Timor-Leste's demands are very reasonable. On the one hand, most of the gas fields are under the jurisdiction of East Timor and are closer to East Timor. Petro-Leste, on the other hand, owns more than half of the gas field and is the de facto controller of the gas field. It may be the fear of pressure from Australia's partners, or the lack of investment funds, that the pipeline to East Timor has not been established.
On the other hand, the Australian side, as a partner, in order to get more benefits, would rather build more pipelines to give gas to the Australian people for consumption, rather than respond to the basic demands of East Timor, an Australian who has money, nobility, can use gas, and the East Timorese are poor and unworthy of the arrogance of gas. Although Huang Yingxian visited East Timor and intended to ease relations between Australia and Eastern Europe and reach a final agreement on this issue, her statement was still to urge the President of Timor-Leste and his staff to reach an agreement with the Australian side as soon as possible.
In addition, Huang Yingxian's remarks before the visit also exposed the true purpose of the Australian side's visit. Wong said Australia looks forward to continuing to support Timor-Leste's economic development and is committed to working with Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste to build a stable, resilient and prosperous Indo-Pacific region. It can be seen from this that no matter how the Australian side talks about cooperation, it is actually considering these countries under the Western Indo-Pacific strategic framework, and regarding them as pawns for the West to realize this strategy, and there is no sincerity for cooperation at all.
Huang Yingxian's choice to visit Timor-Leste was clearly stimulated by the government's call for cooperation with the Chinese side. The Australian and New Zealand governments have sent senior officials to visit European and South Pacific countries, and fundamentally speaking, it is still necessary to strengthen cooperation with allies, increase influence in the South Pacific region, and compete with China and Russia from two directions.