Singapore / Dili: East Timor will sign agreements with Beijing covering air services, health, economic and technical cooperation, ending Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s tour of the region with a number of new agreements.
When he landed in Dili on Friday afternoon, Wang was expected to sign the pacts pushed by East Timor’s Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak, which seeks to take advantage of infrastructure investment in Australia, Japan and China. Timorese government figures confirmed that the deal would also include an agreement with Chinese state television to digitize the country’s national radio and television services, expanding China’s reach just as the ABC prepares to increase its presence in the Pacific.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Credit: AP
Jose Ramos Horta, who was re-elected president in March, wanted to keep Dili’s connection to Beijing. The President’s Palace, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense and the main shopping malls of the capital were built with Chinese investment. A commercial port built by a Chinese state-owned company less than 700 kilometers from Darwin will also open at the end of the year.
Horta thanked Xi Jinping in May for his strong support for East Timor’s “nation-building process.” The country has large reserves of gas and oil, but major mining companies have described the environment as too challenging, forcing it to turn to Chinese-backed companies to finance the installation of Timor GAP .
Wang left Papua New Guinea on Thursday after pledging to buy more gas from PNG and help Port Moresby with green development as well as COVID-19 and anti-narcotics programs.
PNG Prime Minister James Marape, who faces elections in July, said China was a “very strategic and important bilateral partner”.
José Ramos Horta was re-elected President of East Timor in March. Credit: AP
“PNG is everyone’s friend and nobody’s enemy,” Marape said. “China is the main buyer of our products and we will relate more to them in trade and commerce, as well as in other aspects of our bilateral relationship in the future.”
Marape rejected criticism of Wang’s visit amid the PNG election campaign after the opposition accused him of politicizing PNG diplomacy.