Chinese cash: enough to keep East Timor out of Asean?
- Southeast Asia’s youngest nation faces a Catch-22 in ties with China
- To join Asean, it needs to improve its economy, but, in improving its economy with China’s help, it may jeopardise its chances of joining Asean
When work began on East Timor’s US$490 million deep water port, things went with a bang – literally.
The government waived its regulations on explosions so that Chinese contractors could blast their way through a quarry in Tibar Bay, 10km west of the capital city of Dili, and launch in earnest a project aimed at strengthening trade links between Southeast Asia’s youngest nation and the wider region.
To some ears, those explosions in mid-July were a sign of strength, a celebration of the fact that Asia’s largest economy was helping to develop one of its smallest and most impoverished neighbours. To other ears, they were a loud reminder of a young country’s vulnerability.
The country has been hoping to join the bloc since gaining independence from Indonesia in 2002, making an official application for membership in 2011, and is today the only Southeast Asian nation that is not a member. Joining would not only boost its opportunities for trade, but also symbolise the 17-year-old nation’s coming of age – from occupied state to regional player.