Hands Off My Petroleum!
If this was war, the conflict would be called asymmetric. A small, fast-moving mercenary force is launching rocket-propelled grenades in all directions; its larger, cautious opponent knows it can call in air strikes at any time. The difference between the two countries' firepower and tactics could hardly be greater. East Timor (pop. 800,000), the half-island which celebrated independence on May 20, 2002, is one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia; Australia (pop. 20 million) is the richest nation in the region. East Timor is pressing for a maritime boundary in the Timor Sea that is equidistant between the countries. Provisional arrangements over a sea zone known as the Joint Petroleum Development Area - 90% of whose taxes and royalties are East Timor's - will bring it about $4 billion. Over the coming decades, an extra $8 billion could go to Dili if it is successful in capturing the oil and gas fields to the east and west of the JPDA. But first it must persuade Australia, and then the Indonesians (who occupied the territory between 1975 and 1999), with whom sea-boundary talks are imminent. "The petroleum resources are utterly essential to East Timor," President Xanana Gusmão told Time on the eve of the April 19-22 talks. "We desperately need funds to fix roads, to build up our schools and health system. Our international donors say 'But you have all this oil and gas. So don't ask us for more money.'"
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