NO.465 Author: Nan Xinyi Audio: Cindive
Twenty years ago, on 20 May, a nascent State, the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, appeared on the world map. As the first independent country of the 21st century, what is Timor-Leste's history and how has it developed now?
East Timorese independence demonstration in Australia. Source: wikipedia
Located on the island of Timor at the southern tip of the Malay Archipelago, East Timor is an important origin of sandalwood, and its name has long appeared in ancient Chinese texts, and the Song Dynasty "Zhufan Zhi" called it "Dibe", and in the "Island Yizhi" also translated as "Diwen". In 1515, Portuguese colonists invaded the island of Timor in the name of trade. In 1618, the Dutch established a base in the western part of the island of Timor and pushed the Portuguese out to the east. In 1859, a treaty was signed between Portugal and the Netherlands, in which the eastern part of the island and the Oecussi region came under Portuguese administration, while the western part was incorporated into the Dutch East Indies. This act by the colonists of the two countries laid the seeds for the civil strife that erupted on the island in the future.
Indication of the location of Timor-Leste
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During World War II, the island of Timor briefly fell into the hands of the Japanese army. In 1945, Portugal resumed colonial rule over East Timor. In 1951, East Timor nominally became a Portuguese overseas province. However, on April 25, 1974, when the Carnation Revolution broke out in Portugal, there were voices of decolonization in the country, and the new government announced the renunciation of all overseas colonies, and the Portuguese Governor General in East Timor allowed the East Timorese people to form political parties and promote self-determination.
However, serious divisions soon arose within Timor-Leste over the question of determining the future of the country. At that time, the country's political forces were divided into three factions: the Revolutionary Front for the Independence of East Timor, which advocated independence, the Democratic Union (mostly members of the colonial ruling class), which advocated continued relations with Portugal, and the Timorese People's Democratic Association, which advocated integration with Indonesia. On August 16, 1975, civil war broke out between the three factions. On 28 November, the Revolutionary Front for the Independence of East Timor unilaterally declared the independence of East Timor and established the Democratic Republic of East Timor.
Despite East Timor's nominal independence, Indonesia quickly took advantage of its abundant natural resources. In December 1975, Indonesia sent troops to occupy East Timor on suspicion of close ties between the Timorese authorities and the Indonesian Communist Party. Indonesia has fostered the establishment of the "Interim Government of East Timor" and the "People's Assembly of East Timor" in East Timor. In the same month, the United Nations General Assembly demanded that Indonesia withdraw its troops and called on all countries to respect the territorial integrity of Timor-Leste and the right of its people to self-determination, but with the tacit approval of Australia and the United States, Indonesia naturally ignored it. On July 5, 1976, the Indonesian parliament passed an act in which the Suharto authorities declared East Timor the 27th province of Indonesia.
The Government of Indonesia donated a statue symbolizing ethnic integration in Dili to convey to the East Timorese: "To merge with Indonesia is to liberate from the colonies". Source: upmedia
In order to further strengthen its rule over East Timor, Indonesia has constantly moved in foreign populations in an attempt to assimilate the culture and language of the East Timorese people. Since 1975, local revolutionary guerrillas have occasionally clashed with Indonesian government forces, and the Indonesian authorities have also launched a bloody crackdown on local civilians, resulting in nearly 100,000 casualties and stagnating economic development in Timor-Leste.
In 1997, the Asian financial crisis hit Indonesia's economy hard, and authoritarian President Suharto was forced to step down. In January 1999, the newly appointed President, Habibie, announced that he had agreed to grant East Timor special autonomy status, and if East Timor did not wish to accept autonomy, a referendum could be held to decide whether to become independent. On 30 August 1999, 440,000 East Timorese voted under the supervision of a United Nations Security Council mission, with 78.5 per cent of East Timorese opting for independence. The Indonesian authorities' initial refusal to accept the referendum results provoked civil unrest among members of pro-Indonesian parties and independence factions in East Timor, and the United Nations had to intervene to form an interim transitional government. On 20 May 2002, Timor-Leste became the youngest country in Asia to become an independent country.
Habibie was sworn in as President of Indonesia. Source: wikipedia
The peacekeeping force is stationed in Dili. Source: wikipedia
Despite East Timor's successful march towards independence, after so many years of civil strife, the country's economic infrastructure has been largely destroyed and thousands of civilians have been displaced as a result. According to statistics, about 20% of the local population is unemployed, and 52.9% of the population lives on less than $1.25 a day. Unable to effectively attract foreign investment for economic development, Timor-Leste is still very dependent on the economic assistance of the international community.
Distribution of relief rice. Source: wikipedia
But Timor-Leste is rich in oil and gas, with 1.36 billion barrels of oil reserves, more than Brunei's 1.1 billion barrels. As early as 2002, when East Timor became independent, an oil field called Bayu U Than was being developed in the southwest waters of East Timor. When the field began producing oil in 2004, it coincided with the golden period of rising international oil prices (until July 2008, when international oil prices reached US$147 per barrel, compared to US$70 per barrel in December 2021), and Timor-Leste also enjoyed the dividends of oil revenues and received sufficient funds for post-war national reconstruction.
Distribution of oil and gas in the Timor Sea
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However, oil is not a sustainable industry after all, and Timor-Leste's economy has begun to deteriorate as oil production from the Prayu U Thant oilfield began to decline year by year in 2012. In fact, Timor-Leste also has an oil field called Greater Sunrise to develop, which is not only closer to the East Timorese coastline, but also has greater oil reserves than the Bayu U Thant field, but unfortunately, most of the revenue from the Greater Sunrise field has been "stolen" by neighboring Australia. What's going on?
In 1972, Indonesia and Australia began negotiations on the delimitation of their territorial maritime boundaries. After World War II, the United States claimed sovereignty over the continental shelf off its coast, and Australia, which has a strong sense of maritime rights and interests, also claimed sovereignty over the continental shelf in the Timor Sea, which it considered to be part of Australia's territorial waters. Due to a series of internal and external troubles such as political turmoil at that time, Indonesia urgently needed Australia's assistance in various fields, so it accepted the "two continental shelves" proposed by Australia.
The two countries signed an agreement in the same year, and the Timor Trough became the natural dividing line between the two countries' seas. The Timor Trough is only 40 nautical miles from Timor Island but 250 nautical miles from Australia, resulting in the vast majority of the waters between Indonesia and Australia becoming the latter's territorial waters. At that time, East Timor was still a Portuguese colony, and because Portugal did not agree with or accept Australia's territorial sea claims, it had not signed a territorial sea boundary agreement with Australia, which led to the formation of a "Timorese gap" between Australia and Indonesia in the maritime boundary of the southern waters of Timor-Leste.
Maritime boundary illustration in 1972
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With Indonesia's annexation of East Timor in 1975 and making it part of its own territory, Australia saw hope in closing the Timorese gap. In order to obtain the rich oil and gas resources of the Timor Sea, Australia recognized Indonesia's annexation of East Timor in 1978, "urging" Indonesia to start negotiations with Australia on the Timorese gap. Of course, after the pain of the oil embargo in the Arab countries in the 70s, Indonesia also deeply understood the strategic value of oil resources, so this time Indonesia rejected Australia's attempt to continue the 1972 Timor Trough as the boundary line.
Southeast coast of Timor-Leste. Source: wikipedia
After some bargaining, India and Australia reached the Timor Gap Treaty in 1989. According to the treaty, the two countries divided the Timorese gap into three areas, the middle part is Zone A, and each side accounts for 50% of the oil and gas resources; The oil and gas resources in Area B are developed by Australia, and Indonesia enjoys 10% of the revenue; Similarly, the oil and gas resources in Area C are developed by Indonesia, and Australia also enjoys 10% of the revenue. Poor East Timor was completely deprived of the oil and gas revenues of its own waters, and the angry East Timorese people broke out in the capital Dili in 1991, when the treaty came into force, and were ruthlessly suppressed by the Indonesian authorities.
Regional distribution of ABC
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Fast forward to the end of the 20th century, and with the end of the Cold War, Indonesia's position in the eyes of Western countries no longer needed Indonesia as their frontline base against communist expansion in Asia. In that context, Australia turned to strong support for East Timor's independence, contributing $20 million to the United Nations mission overseeing the independence referendum. When East Timor succeeded in independence, Australia asked East Timor to continue to implement the Timor Gap Treaty on the grounds that it had contributed to independence. However, Timor-Leste said that this was an illegal treaty signed between Australia and the Indonesian aggressor, and demanded that Australia stop exploration and exploitation of the oil field.
The two sides reached a stalemate, and finally, under the capital pressure of the oil company, East Timor signed a new Timor Sea Treaty with Australia on the day of the official declaration of independence, and the original 50% of oil and gas revenue in Area A was changed to 90% for East Timor and 10% for Australia. The problem appeared to be resolved, but the dispute continued over the rights to the Greater Sunrise field, and in June 2003, as East Timor suffered from civil strife and needed a large sum of money to address the immediate need, it had to sign the Greater Sunrise Oil and Gas Field Unified Development Agreement with Australia. The agreement stipulates that 20.1% of the proceeds from the Greater Sunrise field will be included in the joint production area, but Australia still owns 79.9% of the proceeds on the east side of the field on the grounds that most of the fields are located in its own territorial waters, and Timor-Leste has clearly suffered a loss.
Timor-Leste began to mobilize national efforts to regain its own oil fields through diplomatic means, after all, this is the only "life-saving money" in its country. In January 2006, East Australia signed the Treaty on Specific Maritime Arrangement, and the proceeds from the Greater Sunrise field were divided equally between the two countries. But as a condition attached, Australia successfully secured the boundary of its territorial sea by asking Timor-Leste to renounce its claims to other maritime rights, including maritime boundaries. The oil field dispute between the two countries appeared to be resolved, but all the calm was shattered by an eavesdropping.
In 2017, the people of Timor-Leste protested Australia's "theft" of its own oil. Source: socialism
In 2013, a former Australian intelligence agent alias "Witness K" revealed an insider that Australia had installed bugs in the walls of conference rooms during its assistance in the establishment of the Prime Minister's Office building in Timor-Leste, and that all of Timor-Leste's cards during the negotiations on the Treaty of Specific Maritime Arrangements had been cleared by Australia, giving the latter a successful advantage in the negotiation process. Enraged, the Timorese government took Australia to an international court of law to declare the 2006 treaty illegal.
However, the proceedings before the International Tribunal are often lengthy, and Australia has taken advantage of this to delay and continue to hold most of the proceeds from the Greater Sunrise field. It was only in March 2018 that the two countries reached a new agreement, under which if the extracted oil and gas were transported to Timor-Leste for processing, the proceeds would be divided between the two countries. If it is shipped to Australia for processing, it is "eighty-two". However, over the years, the Greater Sunrise oil field has been almost exploited by Australia, and Timor-Leste still has no sweetness. The following year, Timor-Leste bought back a controlling stake in the Greater Sunrise oil field for $650 million, but it was too late. With the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020 leading to a drop in international oil prices, Timor-Leste's economy has not improved even though it has regained its "life-saving money".
Western countries did not mean to save East Timor! The picture shows the statue of Christ in Dili. Source: wikipedia
In recent years, Timor-Leste has actively developed China's economic and trade relations, and China took the lead in establishing diplomatic relations with Timor-Leste when it was just independent, and now the two countries are also important partners in jointly building the "Belt and Road". In addition to assisting the construction of government facilities in Timor-Leste, China has also carried out the "One Network, One Road, One Port" construction project there, that is, cooperating with Timor-Leste to build the Timor-Leste National Grid, the Suai Expressway and the Tiba Port. The local power shortage in Timor-Leste has been solved, and the level of infrastructure has gradually improved.
In November 2018, the Suai Expressway in Timor-Leste, built by the Chinese side, was officially opened to traffic. Image source. Official website of the Chinese Embassy in Timor-Leste
In the field of agriculture, in addition to donating agricultural machinery to Timor-Leste, China has also made efforts to help Timorese coffee products enter the Chinese market, and now Timorese coffee has become an Internet celebrity product in the eyes of Chinese consumers. Many Chinese doctors and agricultural experts have also begun to be stationed in Timor-Leste, which has greatly improved the living standards of the local people.
East Timorese coffee beans. Image source. Xinhua
On November 11, 2022, at the ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, ASEAN leaders agreed in principle to admit Timor-Leste as the 11th member state. This is good news for Timor-Leste, which has long hoped to build better foreign relations by joining ASEAN, so as to attract more foreign investment to help the country's development.
ASEAN Summit 2022. Source: wikipedia
From the colonial period to the annexation of other countries to the present independence, East Timor has suffered a lot. However, the people of Timor-Leste are full of confidence in the future of their country, and as a new country, Timor-Leste still has a lot of room for development.
References: Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China: Timor-Leste; Yang Guanghai: The origin and progress of the East Timor issue; Xinhuanet: ASEAN countries agreed in principle to admit Timor-Leste as a member state; Tom Allard: Australia accused of playing dirty in battle with East Timor over oil and gas reserves
* This article is provided by the author and does not represent the position of Geovalley