Chinese presence in Timor Leste ‘won’t affect’ ASEAN

ASEAN admitted Myanmar in 1997 in a fast-track based on fear of the growing Chinese influence in the military-ruled country.

But that is not the case for Timor Leste as ASEAN and its chair, Indonesia, see no similar concern upon the planned admission of Timor Leste, where Chinese influence is also growing through investment and government aid.

“China is not a threat to us, in fact it is our friend that we expect to be able to help develop Timor Leste and us in ASEAN with,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Kusuma Habir told The Jakarta Post on Thursday. “Indonesia is still behind Timor Leste’s intention to become a [full] ASEAN member.”

She said Timor Leste’s application process to become a full ASEAN member was still underway and ASEAN members were yet to discuss the country’s membership proposal for their final say.

President Jose Ramos Horta earlier said Timor Leste, which wanted to join ASEAN by 2012, was already extremely behind achieving that target.

University of Indonesia international relations expert Makmur Keliat said it was irrelevant to compare Timor Leste with Myanmar in joining ASEAN.

“There are no such worries [that Chinese influence is growing in Timor Leste and will eventually affect ASEAN if Timor Leste becomes the bloc’s member]. It’s overreacting,” he told the Post.

“Chinese investment is increasing everywhere and I believe it has in fact made Indonesia its largest destination in Southeast Asia.”

Moreover, he went on, Timor Leste had been part of ASEAN because it was once under Indonesian sovereignty.

In 1999, following the UN-sponsored act of self-determination, Indonesia relinquished control of the territory and Timor Leste became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century on May 20, 2002.

Makmur said what was important now was to enhance relations between Indonesia and Timor Leste by settling “residual issues”, including territorial disputes, if any.

Echoing Makmur, Islamic State University ASEAN expert Mutiara Pertiwi said China would likely focus on ASEAN countries in the Southeast Asian mainland more than Timor Leste.

“What ASEAN and Indonesia have to think about when considering Timor Leste’s membership is that once it becomes an ASEAN member, all problems in Timor Leste will automatically become part of ASEAN. This means ASEAN will have more jobs to do,” she told the Post.

“I think that would be a great burden to ASEAN, given that this bloc is still preparing itself to develop the ASEAN Community by 2015 — a huge agenda in a very short period of time, let alone other tasks.”

China has spent more than US$53 million in aid to Timor Leste over the past 10 years, tvnz.co.nz reported. It also gave Timor Leste a new Defence Ministry building, houses for soldiers and schools, as well as scholarships and training programmes for civil servants.

Timor Leste is one of Asia’s poorest and least developed countries, but it has enormous oil and gas reserves.