Watch Full Show
On the eve of independence for East Timor, the Australian government and the Timorese government are negotiating a landmark deal that will determine the future of East Timor. Tens of billions of dollars in oil revenue are at stake in the Timor Gap, the small sea between Timor and Australia.
Negotiations over the Timor Gap oil fields have a long and complex history, stretching back well before the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975. They are an integral factor in the hot-and-cold relationship between Australia and Indonesia. They also played a key role in Australia’s decision to support the invasion, becoming the only western nation to recognize the occupation.
Guest:
- Robert Wesley Smith, Coordinator of Australians for a Free East Timor (AFFET).
Related Story
StoryMay 13, 2002In Australia, Democracy Now! Talks to the Mother of Nobel Peace Prize Winner Jose Ramos Horta, and Visits the Offices of the Sydney Morning Herald, Where They Have Uncovered Top Secret DocumentThe original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.
Top
Media Options