East Timor –Australia relations

1. East Timor –Australia relations

2. East Timor – Historical Background • Australia’s relationship to East goes back to WWII to when many Timorese supported Australian troops who were fighting the Japanese in Timor. • In 1975 East Timor was granted Independence by Portugal and after a short period of civil war Fretilin – a socialist influenced political party declared itself the government of the new state. • This was short lived however when December 1975 East Timor was invaded by Indonesia. Hundreds of thousands of Timorese died under the ensuing 24 years of occupation by the Indonesians.

3. Australia’s Response to Timor Invasion • Australia’s did not protest the Indonesian invasion of Timor in 1975. • Australia even overlooked the murder of six Australian journalists by the Indonesian military during the invasion of East Timor – the Balibo Five plus Roger East. • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balibo_Five • In 1978 the Fraser government went as far as to formally recognise the Indonesian claim of sovereignty over Timor – we were the only Government in the world to do so.

5. Why did we accept the invasion? • Australia accepted the invasion for 3 reasons: • 1) Security/economic: Australia wanted to retain good a good relationship with the Suharto dictatorship for both economic and security reasons. • 2) Security: Australia shared Indonesian’s concerns about allowing a left-leaning government survive in the region during the Cold War. This was confirmed in the recent release of cabinet documents from the time: • http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/cabinet-papers/timor-invasion-in-our-interests/story-e6frgd9o-1111118449723#809189D2-7517-4af1-BAF0-1A36C3BB8640&numResults=0&command=%20m_objCurrentDocument.getElementById%28%27veohrecs_fr%27%29.style.height%20%3D%20%27107px%27%3B%20m_objCurrentDocument.getElementById%28%27Veoh_SpaceDiv%27%29.style.height%20%3D%20%2712px%27%3B%20m_objCurrentDocument.getElementById%28%27VeohCompass.LoadingDiv%27%29.style.height%20%3D%20%270px%27%3B%20m_objCurrentDocument.getElementById%28%27VeohCompass.LoadingDiv%27%29.style.display%20%3D%20%27none%27%3B • 3) Economic: Australia had an interest in the oil and gas that lay in the Timor Sea.

6. 1999 East Timor Intervention • After the fall of Suharto in 1998, Indonesia acceded to a UN ballot to be held in East Timor on the issue of independance. • Australia sent AFP members to be part of United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) to over see the ballot. http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/unmiset/background.html • Violence from militia’s broke out even before the vote was taken. After 78.5 voted for independance – massive retaliation occured from the militias and the Indonesian military who essentially burnt the country to the ground.

7. The Australian government throughout this time maintained the fiction that the militias were acting independently from the Indonesian military – despite knowing from intelligence that this was not so. • Nevertheless: the post-referendum violence created enough international pressure that Indonesia accepted an international force, under the leadership of Australia intervening in East Timor. Although U.S. troops were not involved, U.S. pressure was crucial in this situation.

8. InterFET • InterFET was maintained until East Timor formally declared independance in 2001. • At its height there were 11,000 Australian troops in Timor along with soldiers from many other nations. • http://pandora.nla.gov.au/parchive/2000/S2000-Nov-7/easttimor.defence.gov.au/index.html • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Force_for_East_Timor • Some Australian soldiers stayed on after Independance under the banner of UNMISET – a mission to support East Timor whose mandate ended in2005 but after violence broke out between sections of the police and military in 2006 Australia again sent troops to East Timor – this time under the banner of UNMIT. • http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/unmiset/background.html

9. East Timor and security • Australia’s relationship with East Timor has been dominated by security concerns. • First we opposed East Timor’s independence because we saw a small left state as a security threat and as a threat to our relationship with Indonesia • Later we intervened in 1999 to restore security to East Timor and again in 2006 – both of these interventions fall under the “Howard Doctrine” and particularly 2006 were justified on the grounds Australia cannot allow nearby states to fail for its own security.

10. Howard Doctrine The Howard Doctrine arose from a 1999 interview with Howard in the Bulletin shortly after the East Timor Intervention: See quote below: • As The Bulletin noted, "Prime Minister John Howard believes East Timor marks a turning point in Australia's external relations, not just with Indonesia but with the entire region to our north. He has told The Bulletin how Australia's foreign and security policies are to be re-cast. The Howard Doctrine - the PM himself embraces the term - sees Australia acting in a sort of 'deputy' peacekeeping capacity in our region to the global policeman role of the US. East Timor shows Australia as a medium sized, economically strong, regional power leading a peacekeeping force with other regional nations, and the US acting as 'lender of last resort'. Australia, says Howard, has a responsibility within its region to do things 'above and beyond', bringing into play its unique characteristics as a western country in Asia but with strong links to North America. East Timor peacekeeping shows Australia playing an 'influential, constructive and decisive role in the affairs of the region'." http://www.asialink.unimelb.edu.au/archived/events/past/past_events_corporate/disengagement_from_asia_five_years_of_foreign_policy_under_the_howard_government

11. Australia’s lead role in the United Nations Mission in East Timor in 1999 is seen by many as the start of the so-called 'Howard Doctrine', in which Australia commits itself to being the provider of first resort of regional security in the Pacific. Concerns about the nexus between state failure and new security threats from organized crime to communicable diseases animate this activist doctrine and has seen Australian police and military fan out across the Pacific from East Timor to the Solomon Islands. It is also behind the significant increase in defence spending over the last few years and the growth of the AFP’s International Deployment Group. • http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2008/02/12/The-limits-of-the-Howard-Doctrine.aspx

12. East Timor and Economic Interests • Australia’s relationship with East Timor have also had important economic interests particularly regarding the huge reserves of Oil and Gas that lie beneath the Timor Sea between Australia and East Timor.

13. Timor Gap Treaty • The Timor Gap Treaty was a treaty between the governments of Australia and Indonesia.[1] The signatories to the treaty were then Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Gareth Evans and then Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas. The treaty was signed on December 11, 1989 and came into force on February 9, 1991. • It provided for the joint exploitation of petroleum resources in a part of the Timor Sea seabed which were claimed by both Australia and Indonesia. • After the Indonesia invasion and annexation of the colony in 1975-1976, East Timor was made a province of Indonesia and both Australia and Indonesia began negotiations to solve issues arising over claims to the seabed in the area. Critics argued that the negotiations and ultimate signing of the treaty affirmed Australia's de jure recognition of the Indonesian invasion and annexation of East Timor. Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans and Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas in 1989 flying over the Timor Gap signing the Treaty http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timor_Gap_Treaty

14. Timor Sea Treaty 2002 • The Timor Sea Treaty replaced the Timor Gap Treaty in 2002 when East Timor became independant. • The Treaty pretty much replaced Indonesia with East Timor but left questions over where the maritime boundary was in the sea unsolved. • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timor_Sea_Treaty

15. Dispute over the Greater Sunrise Field • The major oil field in the Timor Sea lies in a disputed area claimed by both Australia and East Timor. • Australia and East Timor fought over how best to divide up the revenue from this field. • Australia had argued originally for around 80 per cent of the revenue, while on the other side there was legal opinion East Timor was entitled to 100 per cent, under international law. • When East Timor said it might take Australia to the International Court of Justice to arbitrate where the boundary lay, Australia said it would no longer be bound by any decision by the Court. • Eventually in 2006, a deal was struck which gave Australia and East Timor about 50% of the revenue each – about $10 billion dollars over 40 years. • Both countries also agreed to leave the question of boundaries open for the next 50 years. • Australia and East Timor reach agreement on oil field http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1546446.htm Timor Sea Justice Campaign http://tsjc.asiapacificjustice.org/

16. 2010 Dispute over Woodside Petroleum • The Greater Sunrise Oil Field which lies in the shared resource zone of the Timor Gap is planned to be drilled by the Woodside consortium has caused another deep dispute between Ausralia and East Timor • East Timor has long lobbied for a deep sea pipeline running from Greater Sunrise to the Timorese coast, about 200km away, and has been looking for commercial partners to develop a national petrochemical industry that would create much-needed jobs and tax income. • Woodside, which leads the consortium, including Royal Dutch/Shell, Osaka Gas and ConocoPhillips, argued that piping the resources to an existing processing plant in Darwin, more than 500 kilometres away, is the most commercially viable option. • http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/flare-up-over-timor-oil-field/story-e6frf7jo-1225819021329

17. The Rudd/Gillard Government has backed Woodside in this dispute saying its a commercial decision for the shareholders of Woodside. • XananGusmao has responded angrily – threatening to block the deal for “generations”, saying East Timor won’t be exploited by foreign resource companies after fighting so long for its sovereignty • http://www.theage.com.au/national/timor-ready-to-block-joint-gas-project-says-gusmao-20100530-wnkc.html

18. http://www.nicholsoncartoons.com.au/flash/flash.php?id=25 Follow this link to see a short animation on Australia and East Timor’s oil

19. Security/Economic:East Timor and China • East Timor has recently stirred concern amongst Australian circles by moving to have closer ties with China – thus moving Beijing into our “sphere of influence”. • “Alarm bells” ring for Australian government over deepening China-East Timor ties • http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/aug2010/timo-a27.shtml

20. Security: East Timor and Asylum seekers • East Timor became part of the election in 2010 when the newly appointed PM Julia Gillard said she would help solve the “problem” of asylum seekers coming on boats by setting up a regional processing centre in Dili. • This was announced before any agreement has come for East Timor. A vote of the Parliament in East Timor rejected the idea but Xanana has been more diplomatic and said any formal proposal would be considered.