Supporting China, Timor-Leste has long recognized its "eternal friend"

Source: Global Times

"The idea that China is a regional and global threat is unconvincing. At the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue ("Shangri-La Dialogue") in early June, Timor-Leste's President Horta, the only head of state to attend, bluntly criticized some countries for viewing China's rise "from a frog perspective." Why would the leader of the "youngest country in Asia" support China? Why is this country of about 15,000 square kilometers and a population of more than 1.3 million increasingly close to China? During the interview in Timor-Leste, a phrase often said by local politicians and people that inspired the reporter: "Timor-Leste and China are good brothers." Timor-Leste regards China as a reliable friend. "Timor-Leste is an important hub connecting ASEAN with the South Pacific, with abundant oil, gas and marine resources. After 12 years of waiting, the "sense of pride" of the East Timorese is gradually coming true – becoming the "eleventh ASEAN country". This also means that its exchanges with China will be deeper and more comprehensive.

President Horta has always stressed friendship with China

"China's influence spans the globe, and this world power intertwines its own interests, wealth, people's well-being and security with all countries in the world." President Horta said this at the "incense meeting". He also said that as China becomes a "real power," countries that once had hopes for the West but were ultimately disillusioned were finding new ground up. Horta's remarks drew attention in the West. Some German media said that the President of Timor-Leste not only called for "stopping viewing China as a threat", but also urged rich Western countries to respect the one-China principle on the Taiwan issue.

Born in December 1949, Horta was a founder of the Revolutionary Front for the Independence of East Timor (Fretilin) and was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs in 1975 when Fretilin unilaterally declared independence. He lived in exile and served as Permanent Representative of Fretilin to the United Nations, where he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996. On 20 May 2002, East Timor declared its independence, and China established diplomatic relations with East Timor on that day. Horta, as Timor-Leste's first foreign minister, witnessed this historic moment and visited China in December of the same year. Horta served as Prime Minister of Timor-Leste in 2006 and as the country's second President from 2007 to 2012. Last May, Horta was re-inaugurated as president. Explaining his foreign policy, Horta said Timor-Leste should not only establish good bilateral relations with Indonesia and Australia, but also strengthen cooperation with China in high-tech, renewable energy and digitalization.

While Horta discussed strengthening cooperation with ASEAN countries, Japan, South Korea and the United States in a speech last year, his "special remarks on expanding bilateral relations with China made headlines," according to Western media. Horta once said that China's help is crucial to the sustained development of Timor-Leste's economy, China actively supports global and regional economic recovery, and the realization of peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region cannot be separated from China's contribution. In 2019, before then-Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison visited Timor-Leste, Horta ridiculed Australia's excessive concerns about China's influence.

Xu Liping, researcher at the Institute of Asia-Pacific and Global Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, said in an interview with the Global Times that with the assistance of China and the international community, Timor-Leste, which is in ruins and waiting to be rebuilt, has gradually embarked on the road of stable development in recent years. During this period, the East Timorese people also experienced a strong sense of gain and a very friendly attitude towards China. Horta became president again and paid more attention to developing friendly relations with China. For Timor-Leste, which regards development as its first priority, establishing good relations with China is in the interest of its own development. He believes that Horta's support for China at the "incense meeting" also represents the attitude of most ASEAN countries, that is, they do not like the confrontation between the United States and China, let alone the rhetoric that demonizes China.

Timor-Leste has suffered many disasters, and Portugal, the Netherlands, Britain, Japan, Indonesia, Australia and other countries have occupied, ruled or controlled it. After independence, the East Timorese people were truly masters of their own country and were more tolerant and open to the outside world. According to the website of Australia's "Human Visions", "Timor-Leste is the third youngest country in the world" and the 191st member state of the United Nations. Over the past 20 years, Timor-Leste has risen in many global indices and is on the path of peaceful development. On the diplomatic front, the country actively emphasizes the "stable and strategic" element of peace, which also contributes to the country's further development.

According to Xu Liping, although the country is small, Timor-Leste's geographical location is very important, with Indonesia's West Timor on the same island of Timor, and southeast Australia across the sea. It is very rich in resources, with a large amount of natural gas and oil to be exploited, and is expected to become the "second Brunei". Shortly after the establishment of the state, Timor-Leste experienced large-scale riots in 2006, mainly because of the struggle between active and passive independence forces in Timor-Leste, backed by a complex international context. With the improvement of the international environment, Timor-Leste has begun to gradually move towards stability. In 2018, Timor-Leste saw a dispute between the presidential palace and parliament. Following last year's presidential election and the successful re-election of Horta, Timor-Leste once again moved towards stability.

"Timor-Leste will always be a friend of China"

"Every time I go to East Timor, I see Chinese and I don't see Australians at all." Former Premier Blax of Victoria, Australia, said this before the epidemic. In the eyes of Australians, China's influence in Timor-Leste is growing.

Japan's Nikkei Asian Review article also wrote that China's influence in Timor-Leste is obvious, such as the largest shopping mall in the country's capital, Dili, prominently advertising Chinese OPPO mobile phones. On a construction site in Dili District, large Chinese signs indicate that this is a court building project undertaken by a Chinese company. "Beijing has previously helped Timor-Leste build major government buildings, including the presidential palace, the Ministry of Defense and the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," the article said. The projects have helped cement deep-rooted ties between Timor-Leste and China, which have raised concerns in Australia and the United States. Some visitors to Dili say that almost no elevators are used in local buildings because they are only one or two stories high, except for landmarks that Chinese companies have helped build. There are local Chinese-run supermarkets with a lot of food imported from China. There are also Japanese media statistics that the number of Chinese in Timor-Leste suddenly increased from 2,659 in 2010 to 7,455 in 2019.

In Timor-Leste, local people are grateful to the Chinese medical team for practicing medicine there for nearly 20 years and treating many people. In the face of the new crown epidemic, China was the first to extend a helping hand to Timor-Leste. China has been Timor-Leste's main trading partner for many years, and technical assistance for coffee and rice cultivation is effectively improving the lives of the Timorese people. In 2017, the two governments signed a memorandum of understanding on Belt and Road cooperation. At present, China's main investment in Timor-Leste is mainly private enterprises and individuals, and the main investment areas are catering, hotels, department stores, food, building materials and services. In 2022, bilateral trade in the Middle East reached US$435 million, a year-on-year increase of 16.9%.

The National Grid of Timor-Leste, the Suai Expressway and the "One Network, One Road, One Port" project jointly built by the two sides in the Middle East have become benchmarks for pragmatic cooperation, greatly alleviating the power shortage in Timor-Leste, promoting the interconnection of Timor-Leste's infrastructure, and laying the foundation for Timor-Leste's economic development. In recent years, the Global Times reporter has felt that the local infrastructure construction has undergone substantial changes in Timor-Leste, and asphalt roads have been built from the capital to surrounding local cities. During the construction process, Chinese enterprise cadres and employees rushed to the front line, and some locals quipped: "Chinese when I first came to build the road, my skin color was very white, and after a while, my skin color was darker than ours." ”

Although Timor-Leste is currently relatively economically backward and has a low standard of living, the local people have always been positive and optimistic. Many people have judged the smile of the East Timorese people to be heartfelt, the warmest and the brightest. The local people are friendly to Chinese, and local children met by the Global Times reporter will give a thumbs up and excitedly call "Goliga" (Tetum means "friend", Tetum and Portuguese are the official languages of Timor-Leste - editor's note). In an interview along East Timor's National Highway 1, which Chinese companies helped renovate, Aiji, a villager in Meitinalo village, told reporters: "I work in a nearby town, and the road used to be bad, potholes, motorcycles were not fast to ride, and I arrived home late every day." After the Chinese company helped us repair the road, now I ride my motorcycle to work in the morning, rush home for dinner at noon, and come back early in the evening to spend time with my children. ”

In recent years, China's cooperation projects with Timor-Leste have focused on following international rules and commercial norms, while some Western countries have sometimes resorted to improper means and tried to suppress other opponents by hyping up security threats in order to gain greater interests and regional influence. The British "Guardian" said that Australia and Timor-Leste have a dispute, and the two sides cannot agree on which side the gas pipeline from the Timor Sea gas field leads. Horta warned last year that if other development partners refused to invest in pumping gas to Timor-Leste through pipelines, Timor-Leste would actively consider partnerships with Chinese investors to help it achieve "the national strategic objectives of Timor-Leste's broad political leadership."

The Global Times reporter was deeply impressed by this "national strategic goal of the broad political leadership". Timorese Prime Minister Ruak gave a thumbs up to reporters and said: "Timor-Leste and China are good brothers. Timor-Leste will always be a friend of China. He also said that China is one of Timor-Leste's main trading partners, and Timorese coffee has become an Internet celebrity commodity in China through the Shanghai Expo. Coffee is Timor-Leste's most important export after oil and gas, and when exported to China, farmers, processing plants and distributors can all benefit. Ruwak said: "Coffee consolidates the exchange between the two peoples. It is a bridge that connects East Timor and China. He also stressed: "Timor-Leste is willing to follow China's example, learn from China's advanced development experience, build a good country, eliminate poverty and benefit the people." ”

Gbagbo, a former foreign minister of Timor-Leste who currently teaches at the National University of Timor-Leste, told the Global Times that the power grid, ports, highways and other projects undertaken by Chinese companies in Timor-Leste benefit the local people's livelihood, and "the view that East Timor will be subject to China is completely wrong." "There are fears that Timor-Leste, as a small, emerging country, will be easily shaken, but in fact Timor-Leste is principled and capable enough to handle its own affairs," he added. ”

After joining ASEAN, the most lacking thing is talent

Dmitry is director of the Center for Southeast Asian, Australian and Oceanian Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which believes that Timor-Leste is of great strategic importance. The country is located opposite the Australian port city of Darwin, where U.S. military bases are deployed. East Timor is also close to the Strait of Weta, the deepest strait between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, so some Russian scholars believe that "whoever controls East Timor has the opportunity to dock and station his fleet there, so that he can enter the blue ocean."

Timor-Leste, which has such an important strategic position in international transport, has regarded its accession to ASEAN as a top strategic consideration since independence. A senior Timorese official has said: "It seems that the road to heaven is easier than reaching the gate of ASEAN." "In 2011, Timor-Leste submitted its application for membership to ASEAN. Timor-Leste's heavy dependence on oil and gas for revenue, its small economy and its poverty were the main reasons for the past disagreement within ASEAN on its accession. Wealthier member States fear that Timor-Leste will become a burden on the development path of the ASEAN Economic Community. Singapore's Straits Times newspaper said Timor-Leste is still struggling to eradicate poverty, with a per capita GDP of $1,442 in 2020 and about 53 percent of the country's population living on less than $1.25 a day.

Most countries, including Indonesia, support Timor-Leste's accession to ASEAN, believing that such a move can expand regional influence. Timor-Leste joins ASEAN, and Indonesia can also benefit from the Timorese market. Horta has repeatedly said that Timor-Leste is part of Southeast Asia and has met all the requirements to become a member of ASEAN, looking forward to joining ASEAN during Indonesia's chairmanship in 2023. Indonesia's Jakarta Post said that Timor-Leste's accession to ASEAN is of great strategic significance and cannot be delayed. Moreover, Timor-Leste is of strategic importance, and neither Australia nor the United States will ignore it. In Southeast Asia, Timor-Leste is a country that uses the US dollar. So-called non-governmental organizations such as Freedom House in the United States have listed Timor-Leste as "the only completely free country in Southeast Asia".

In Xu Liping's view, on the whole, Timor-Leste's accession to ASEAN is a good thing, enhancing the integrity and diversity of ASEAN, and allowing the increasingly confident ASEAN to speak with one voice in the international community and enhance ASEAN's status in the international community. He believes that Timor-Leste's accession to ASEAN also means that China has more friends and confidants to jointly oppose hegemonism and unilateralism.

Former Foreign Minister of Timor-Leste Gbagbo believes that the most urgent task for Timor-Leste is to cultivate talents, who will not only serve to fulfill the obligations of ASEAN member countries, but also cope with the competition for foreign labor to enter Timor-Leste after joining ASEAN. In recent years, there have been more and more people-to-people exchanges between China and Timor-Leste, many East Timorese students have studied in China, and some civil servants have also received training in China. Analysts in both countries believe that Timor-Leste's engagement with China will deepen after joining ASEAN.

Chavalon of the Thai Journalists Association told the Global Times that the Thai media did not report much about Timor-Leste, and he had a good impression of the country when he visited Timor-Leste. He looked forward to Timor-Leste's accession to ASEAN, which would bring benefits to the development of the region. The reporter interacted with Martin, the ambassador of Timor-Leste to Thailand, and he was happy to meet Chinese friends in a foreign country. Martin has repeatedly said that Timor-Leste has a beautiful sea and unique culture, welcomes Chinese friends to travel and invest in Timor-Leste, and hopes to open direct flights between China and Timor-Leste.

【Global Times Special Correspondent in Thailand, Timor-Leste and Singapore Sun Guangyong, Ma Yanling, Chen Lisong, Xin Bin, Global Times Reporter Du Tianqi】