Timor-Leste is a small country less than half the size of Taiwan and a population of just over a million. It was a Portuguese colony until 1975. Beginning in 1975, Indonesia took advantage of the Portuguese civil strife to send troops to forcibly occupy East Timor, and in 2002 East Timor gained independence with the help of the international community.
Map of Timor-Leste
There has always been a view among the Chinese people that China has contributed the most to supporting East Timor's independence. There are two reasons: 1, China is the first country in the world to recognize the independent status of East Timor; 2, China is very angry at the Indonesian massacre of Chinese and has been looking for opportunities to retaliate.
Both of these reasons seem very clear. To sort out how much China can contribute to East Timor's independence, it is necessary to understand the international background at that time, China's strength and status in the international community at that time. In addition, we need to understand the role played by Portugal, Australia and the United States in East Timor's independence.
Why? Because Portugal is the original suzerainty of East Timor and the two sides have deep cultural, religious and historical ties, it is natural for it to support East Timor's independence; Australia is Indonesia's neighbor, and it is in Australia's strategic interest to dismember Indonesia, and since both Australians and East Timorese are Christians (most Indonesians believe in Islam), it is understandable that Australia supports East Timorese independence.
The United States is the world's number one power, and its support for East Timor's independence is crucial. But U.S. support for East Timorese independence has not been consistent historically. In 1975, the United States acquiesced to Indonesia's invasion of East Timor. After all, the United States is not Indonesia's neighbor, and East Timor's independence has little impact on its core interests. On the contrary, it is the huge Indonesia that brings it greater economic benefits. Therefore, the United States' support for East Timor's independence is more moral.
(Photo: East Timorese people at independence celebrations)
Then, we can list the countries that most support the independence of East Timor, namely China, Australia, Portugal, etc., as well as some Portuguese-speaking countries such as Brazil and Angola. It can be said that Portugal, Brazil and Angola can only be more moral support. Portugal is too small and far away to have a high status in the United Nations. Brazil and Angola, although they have some strength, are also too far away to help East Timor.
In this way, who will contribute the most to the independence of East Timor can only be chosen between China and Australia.
I. Why does China support East Timor's independence?
The Chinese people have always believed that China's support for East Timor's independence was due to Indonesia's massacre of Chinese people. For example, in 1998, Indonesia slaughtered China, and in 1999, China took substantive action against East Timor's independence at the United Nations and supported East Timor in holding a referendum seeking independence.
This association seems quite plausible. But you know, at that time, almost all United Nations members supported East Timor's independence referendum. This has to do with the ongoing struggle of the East Timorese.
From 1975 to 1999, the East Timorese fought indomitably, and a total of 180,000 East Timorese lost their lives. You know, as of today, Timor-Leste has a population of 1.3 million.
Indonesian troops in East Timor
On 1 November 1991, 200 East Timorese were brutally shot dead by Indonesian troops, drawing global condemnation. At that time, the Cold War had ended, and the Americans no longer secretly aided Indonesia from the perspective of the Cold War (Indonesia was pro-American and cold Soviet in 1975), and joined the chorus of criticism of Indonesia. The involvement of the United States in East Timor has undoubtedly prompted more countries to sympathize with East Timor.
On November 14, 1994, the ApEC meeting was held in Jakarta, and 21 East Timorese broke into the Japanese Embassy in Indonesia, which caused a sensation in the world, which once again brought the East Timor issue into a global perspective.
In the 1997 Indonesian economic crisis, Japan and other countries publicly accused Indonesia of improper handling of the crisis, which dragged down the entire Asian economy. The Suharto government used Chinese exclusion to deflect domestic contradictions, but the domestic economy did not substantially improve. In this way, Indonesia has offended not only China, but also powerful regional powers such as Japan.
After that, Suharto was forced to step down, and Indonesia was no longer able to hold on to East Timor. Including China, Australia, Portugal, Brazil and other countries to work together. In 1999, East Timor held an independence referendum in which China voted in favour of the establishment of a United Nations Transitional Government in East Timor. At this point, the issue of East Timor's independence was decisively resolved.
Humiliated Chinese in Indonesia's Chinese exclusion movement
It can be said that, at least on the surface, East Timor's independence has nothing to do with Indonesia's exclusion of Chinese, but is mainly the result of its own struggle and the intervention of international forces. But China's private operation is inevitable, and it will certainly be accelerated by Indonesia's Chinese exclusion. China is a permanent member of the United Nations, and it has a special role to play by using the United Nations stage.
Since the independence of East Timor is not necessarily related to Indonesia's exclusion of China, why should China support East Timor independence?
China's support for East Timor's independence is the same as Australia's. China does not want powerful countries to emerge around it, so Indonesia's disintegration into a number of small countries is obviously more in line with China's strategic interests. At that time, Vietnam wanted to annex Laos and Cambodia to rebuild the Indochinese Federation, but China also strongly opposed it, and sent troops to teach Vietnam a hard lesson, that is, it did not want a major power in Southeast Asia to challenge China's strategic advantage in the region.
Emotionally, China's support for East Timor's independence is not only anger at Indonesia's exclusion of Chinese, but also Macau's historical special relationship with East Timor.
It turned out that Portugal was also two colonies in the Far East, Macau and East Timor. Portugal usually manages the two offices together, and some Macau Chinese are sent by Portugal to serve in East Timor. Not only does the Governor of Macau often serve as Governor of East Timor, but even the Bishop of Macau also serves as Bishop of East Timor.
East Timorese church
It can be seen that Macao and Timor-Leste have centuries-old historical, cultural and economic ties and special relations. After the independence of East Timor, East Timorese dignitaries also visited Macao many times, including Gusmão, the leader of the East Timor independence movement.
In 1975, the "Revolutionary Front for Independence" in Timor-Leste declared independence, and China, the Soviet Union, Cuba and other socialist countries were the first to recognize it, but the United States adopted an attitude of acquiescing to Indonesian aggression. This is the situation during the cold war. It can be said that China's support for East Timor's independence has been consistent. Early because of ideology, later because of strategic motives and historical feelings about East Timor. The occurrence of China's exclusion incident in Indonesia has increased China's determination to support the independence of East Timor.
So, what specific work has China done to support East Timor's independence?
First of all, of course, it is to use the United Nations dimension, using China's status as a permanent member of the United Nations, to stand for East Timor's independence. In this regard, China cannot be said to be a pioneer, but it is indeed doing its best. In addition to supporting the United Nations in the formation of the East Timor Transitional Administration (UN-resolution 1272), it also supports the establishment of a United Nations peacekeeping force in East Timor. China sent 26 soldiers to the first peacekeeping force.
China's assistance activities to Timor-Leste
In 1999, as soon as East Timor passed its independence referendum, China immediately gave East Timor 50 million yuan in cash and 100 walk-behind tractors free of charge. In 2002, shortly after East Timor's independence, China gave East Timor 30 million yuan in cash free of charge. China was not rich at the time, and of all the developing countries, it supported Timor-Leste economically.
China was also the first to establish diplomatic relations with Timor-Leste. On 20 May 2002, Timor-Leste declared its independence, and China established full diplomatic relations with it two hours later. Less than a day after independence, Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan visited East Timor.
Therefore, Gusmão, the leader of the East Timorese independence movement, was very grateful for China's support, and quickly stated that he recognized only one China, that is, the People's Republic of China. It must be known that the Taiwan authorities also put great pressure on the newborn East Timorese government at that time.
When the Revolutionary Front for East Timor declared independence in 1975, China was also the first country to recognize East Timor's independence. According to overseas media reports, China has also supplied a large number of weapons to the East Timorese independence movement, but this has not been officially confirmed.
To sum up, China has indeed made a great contribution to supporting the independence of East Timor. However, some scholars in the world believe that Australia has contributed the most to supporting East Timor's independence.
Geographically, Timor-Leste is Australia's neighbour
Two: To support East Timor's independence, Australia contributed the most?
First, Australia is Indonesia's true neighbor. Indonesia's huge population base of 2.71 billion people has long-standing strategic pressure on Australia, which is vast and sparsely populated.
But Australia is the younger brother of the United States, and it has to follow the United States in the big strategic policy. Therefore, in 1975, Indonesia sent troops to occupy East Timor, and Australia supported it. Why? Because Indonesia is a Cold War ally of the United States. Even Indonesia's special forces are trained by the United States and Australia.
Therefore, after Indonesia sent troops, it also killed 2 Australian journalists, and Australia had to pretend to be deaf and dumb.
In 1991, Indonesian troops massacred East Timorese. In order to prevent Australia's intervention, Indonesia gave Australia a generous gift. Because Timor-Leste is rich in oil, India and Australia signed an oil cooperation agreement on 61,000 square kilometers of sea to gag Australia.
This continued until 1997. As Indonesia increasingly brutalizes East Timorese clerics and nuns, the Australian government faces increasing moral pressure and popular criticism. And because the Cold War is long over, U.S. demand for Indonesia has declined.
In this way, Australia, after weighing its oil interests and strategic interests, took the lead in attacking Indonesia. In 1998, Australian Prime Minister Howard took advantage of Indonesia's economic crisis to be the first to stand up and force Indonesia to allow East Timor to hold an independence referendum, which was strongly supported by Portugal; In January 1999, the Australian government publicly supported the independence of East Timor and emphasized the alliance between Australia and the United States, demanding that the United States take sides.
Later, the United States, Japan and South Korea simultaneously expressed concern about the issue of Timor-Leste at the trilateral summit. With the intervention of the United States, the question is much more succinct.
Western countries have sanctioned Indonesia one after another
On 13 September 1999, the European Union imposed an arms embargo on Indonesia. On 15 September, the United Nations established a peacekeeping force. On 20 September, Australian-led United Nations peacekeepers entered Timor-Leste.
Australia's first 75 troops occupy East Timor airport. At that time, a total of 7,000 United Nations peacekeepers were stationed in East Timor, of which Australia had the largest number of 2,000.
Since then, the Australian military has been the largest number of peacekeepers in East Timor. At one point, it reached more than 70%. At that time, the situation in East Timor was very bad, and the Australian army directly fought with the Indonesian army. After the withdrawal of Indian troops, Indonesian-backed East Timorese rebels continued to stir up. In 2006, Timorese rebel leader Reinado led a rebellion of thousands of soldiers, which was suppressed by the Australian army.
In 2012, the last Australian UN peacekeepers left Timor-Leste, a total of 390 troops, out of a total of 460 peacekeepers at that time. The Australian military is very responsible in peacekeeping operations, and it can be said that without Australia, there would be no independence for East Timor.
Western countries have sanctioned Indonesia one after another
Australia's economic assistance to Timor-Leste is ahead of all countries, in addition to the government level, but also church docking. In the bilateral oil agreement signed with Timor-Leste, Australia did not bully the small, maintained basic fairness, and well maintained the operational stability of the Timorese regime.
epilogue
To sum up, Australia has undoubtedly contributed the most to supporting the independence of East Timor, and it is it that has led the intervention of American forces. China was not very rich at the time, and it had many problems of its own. Moreover, Timor-Leste's proximity to Australia is undoubtedly more relevant to Australia's vital interests.
As for the second largest contributor to East Timor's independence, some people say that the Portuguese-speaking country led by Portugal is not China. For example, Portugal threatened the United States with withdrawing from the Kosovo peacekeeping force, asking the United States to support East Timor's independence.
This is a matter of opinion. China is a permanent member of the United Nations, an advantage that countries such as Portugal do not have. In addition, the rumored Chinese assistance to the East Timorese independence armed forces with a large number of weapons, although not officially confirmed, has a certain credibility in combination with history.
In short, China's support for East Timor's independence is sincere and consistent, and the role it has taken is unique and powerful. China has always pursued independent diplomacy, unlike Australia's early follow-up to the United States. There is no historical problem between China and Timor-Leste.
Chinese peacekeepers in East Timor
Because of the special relationship between Macau and East Timor, in the early years, the Chinese controlled the East Timorese economy. When Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, the Chinese were persecuted and their property confiscated. A large number of Chinese fled East Timor. After the independence of East Timor, the Chinese returned one after another, and they also did a good job in East Timor business.
At present, there are about 15,000 Chinese in Timor-Leste. With the protection of the Chinese embassy, they lived at ease. In any case, China's support for East Timor's independence is worthwhile.
At the same time, despite its small size, Timor-Leste still holds a valuable vote for China on the United Nations stage.