Australia has signed a new defence agreement with Timor-Leste, one of its closest neighbours in the Indo-Pacific, allowing increased military cooperation, particularly in the waters between the two nations.
The deal was announced as the Timor-Leste president, Jose Ramos-Horta, prepared to address the National Press Club on Wednesday, where he called on Australia to do more to help Timor-Leste’s economy develop.
The new defence cooperation agreement (DCA) sets out the protections afforded to military personnel while they are in each other’s territory, making it easier to conduct joint exercises and training, particularly in the Timor Sea.
It will also allow greater cooperation on humanitarian assistance missions.
The Australian defence minister, Richard Marles, said the agreement heralded a “significant step forward in our partnership” and a “new chapter in Australia’s close relationship with Timor-Leste”.
“We are neighbours with a shared maritime domain, namely the Timor Sea,” he said.
“I look forward to seeing how the DCA will help enable joint maritime patrols between Australia and Timor-Leste.”
Experts told the Guardian the deal was “significant” and an “affirmation of close security cooperation” in the context of rising tensions in the region.
It was signed after Ramos-Horta told the Guardian last month that Timor-Leste could seek out Chinese financial support if Australia and Woodside Energy fail to back a gas pipeline between the resource-rich Timor Sea and his country’s southern shore, rather than Darwin.
Ramos-Horta said on Wednesday developing the Greater Sunrise fields was one of the great challenges facing his country.
“We need much more support from Australia in terms of helping Timor-Leste thinking about new economic opportunities and challenges,” he said. “We hope that Australia will provide us with some opportunities to help exploit these opportunities.”
He praised the looming membership of his nation with Asean and warned of rising tensions in the region.
“We see incredible tensions over Taiwan. And, of course, not to discard North Korea,” he said. “But Timor-Leste remains an oasis of tranquillity.”
The Swinburne University of Technology professor Michael Leach, an expert on Timor-Leste, said the defence agreement signed on Wednesday was “a significant upgrade in the bilateral defence relationship”.
“In the context of recent tensions in the region, it’s an affirmation of close security cooperation, including around the shared maritime boundary,” he said.
“This agreement will be celebrated in Canberra, and observers will be watching to see if other announcements follow in relation to downstream oil and gas processing in the Greater Sunrise field, which is a central preoccupation of the Timorese government.”
The relationship between the close neighbours has been under strain in recent years due to the previous Australian government’s pursuit of the lawyer Bernard Collaery and former intelligence officer Witness K.
The pair were considered heroes in Timor-Leste for their role in exposing Australia’s spy operation during negotiations over the Timor Sea resources in 2004.
The recent decision of the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, to end the prosecution of Collaery was welcomed by Ramos-Horta.
“I am pleased that wisdom and fairness have prevailed,” he told the Guardian at the time.
Collaery was in the room for Ramos-Horta’s NPC address on Wednesday.
Timor-Leste’s executive power lies principally with its prime minister, currently Taur Matan Ruak, and its cabinet, but Ramos-Horta holds significant influence as a popularly-elected president with veto powers.
