Relations between East Timor and the United States

Relations between East Timor and the United States

East Timor	United States

The relations between East Timor and the United States are amicable.

history

US President Gerald Ford with Indonesia's President Suharto the day before the invasion of East Timor.

See also : History of East Timor

As early as 1974, the Indonesian government asked Kissinger how the United States would react to an Indonesian invasion of Portuguese Timor . In March 1975, US Ambassador to Indonesia, David D. Newsom, recommended a policy of "silence," endorsing the view of US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger . On October 8, 1975, Philip Habib , a member of the US delegation to the United Nations Security Council , informed the other participants that it looked as if Indonesia had now started attacking East Timor. In fact, Indonesian troops had invaded the border areas covertly. Kissinger replied that he hoped Habib would keep his mouth shut about this.

In the midst of the Cold War , the United States feared that East Timor could become a “second Cuba ” because the leading party FRETILIN , which had contacts with the People's Republic of China , was considered communist . Especially at this time, shortly after the end of the Vietnam War , they did not want to risk a communist domino effect in Southeast Asia, which is why the United States and Australia tolerated the actions of pro-western Indonesia, even though Portugal was a NATO member and tried to support its former colony . But Lisbon had only diplomatic options against the interests of the participating states. Secret government documents released by the US National Security Archive in December 2001 attest to the events.

On November 28th, FRETILIN declared independence from Portugal due to the Indonesian threat. Having won Indonesia as an ally, the United States did not want a destabilizing, left-wing regime in the middle of the Malay Archipelago . Like most other states and the United Nations , the United States refused East Timor national recognition.

East Timor’s President José Ramos-Horta with the US President couple Obama

On December 6, US President Gerald Ford and Kissinger met with Indonesian President General Suharto in Jakarta . Indonesia received support for the invasion plans. On December 7th, Indonesian parachutists landed in East Timor's capital, Dili, and Indonesia's open occupation began. The FRETILIN went into the armed resistance underground. Both in the invasion and in the fight against the East Timorese guerrillas, Indonesia used weapons and equipment from US deliveries, which continued until 1979.

After the Santa Cruz massacre in 1991, public opinion in the western world tipped in favor of the Timorese. In addition, the Soviet Union had disappeared from the world stage in the same year, so that Indonesia could no longer warn of a Marxist specter. A movement in solidarity with East Timor arose in Portugal, Australia and the United States. In the USA the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) was founded and the American politician Marc R. Pacheco from Massachusetts , together with the Portuguese-American community, got involved in East Timor. On November 15, 1994, 29 East Timorese students peacefully occupied the American embassy in Jakarta for twelve days. In 1996, the East Timorese Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and José Ramos-Horta received the Nobel Peace Prize and the US refused any further support to Indonesia.

After the independence referendum in East Timor in 1999 there was the last wave of violence by Indonesian security forces and militias . When the United Nations dispatched the International Forces to East Timor in September , the United States was one of the largest contingent contributors. These included the cruiser USS Mobile Bay . The USA also participated in its follow-up missions up to 2012.

When East Timor regained independence on May 20, 2002, the United States officially established diplomatic relations.

Development aid and cooperation

A U.S. Marine during an exercise with East Timorese soldiers (2013)

The United States provided development aid worth $ 86 million between 1999 and 2006. From 2002 to 2018 it totaled $ 450 million.

USAID , together with East Timor and New Zealand, organized 110 municipal police conferences to clarify security issues. Nearly 600 young people were involved in USAID programs to mobilize them for conflict prevention. The United States Department of State , along with the United States Navy and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, supported efforts to secure East Timor's land and sea borders. Almost 200 members of the East Timorese security forces have been trained. In cooperation with Australia , the East Timorese National Police (PNTL) were trained in investigative methods. The US is also working with the International Organization for Migration to help the East Timorese security forces fight human trafficking . Joint maneuvers between the US armed forces and the East Timorese Defense Forces (F-FDTL) take place regularly . Since 2002, the U.S. military has spent over $ 5 million developing the F-FDTL. Over 100 civil and military forces received training courses in the areas of security cooperation and emergency management.

USAID works with the Provedoria dos Direitos Humanos e Justiça (PDHJ) to decentralize East Timor through projects in the communities . Technical support was given to over 2000 members of East Timorese parties to promote transparency and open communication between the parties. Citizens' initiatives for women's rights and transparency in government and against domestic violence and corruption were promoted through competitions organized by the US ambassador.

A US soldier building a school in southern Baucau (2009)

To increase the incomes of farmers in East Timor, USAID provided technical support to develop and promote productivity, particularly in coffee growing and horticulture. The Cooperativa Café Timor (CCT) received help with worldwide marketing from USAID. USAID and the United States Department of Agriculture continue to assist East Timorese farmers in contacting agricultural markets and expanding their product range. The US Navy Seabees built nearly 100 different projects across the country that were funded by the US government, including bridges, 37 schools, 15 clinics, and seven community centers.

10,000 East Timorese medical workers have been trained by USAID, along with Australia, since 2006. From 2011 to 2013 USAID helped cover East Timor with vaccination campaigns to contain diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio and measles. An action to combat malaria was successful. 1,700 people were trained in prevention measures and 107,000 mosquito nets treated with insecticides were distributed.

As of 2018, nearly 100 East Timoreseers had received scholarships to study in the United States through various programs. Around 80 East Timorese were able to take part in exchange programs or benefit from research grants. USAID also supported the alhabitation campaigns in East Timor and the reconstruction of the campus of the Universidade Nasionál Timór Lorosa'e (UNTL). In addition, East Timorese students, prosecutors, journalists and soldiers were taught English . English teachers have been trained with the UNTL and the Dili Institute of Technology (DIT).

American members of the Peace Corps have been involved in East Timor since 2015 .

diplomacy

East Timor’s Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (2011)

Constâncio Pinto , secretary of the Executive Committee (Comité Executivo) of the Conselho Nacional de Resistência Maupe (CNRM), had fled to Portugal and later to the USA. There he ran an information campaign to make the United States aware of the fate of his country. Among other things, he spoke to the United States Congress . He also wrote books and articles about East Timor. In 1997, Pinto received the US Congressional Achievement Award . In 1999, Pinto was named Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to East Timor for the United States, Canada and Mexico . With the independence of East Timor in 2002, Pinto became East Timor's first senior diplomat in Washington, DC First official ambassador to the USA and permanent representative to the United Nations from 2003 onwards, José Luís Guterres . Since 2007 the post of ambassador has been separated from the post of permanent representative.

See also : List of East Timorese Ambassadors to the United States

The United States Embassy in Dili officially opened in 2002. In 2018, 180 people worked there, 20 of whom were US citizens. The first US ambassador to East Timor was Grover Rees III from 2003 . On January 18, 2015, an explosive device was thrown over the wall of the US ambassador's residence in Dili. A car and windows are damaged

See also : List of United States Ambassadors to East Timor

economy

East Timor uses the US dollar as its national currency, alongside its own coins .

According to the East Timor Statistics Office , the USA was 12th (2016: 13th) among the importers of goods to East Timor with a total value of 5,925,000 US dollars (2016: 4,440,000 US dollars). The goods were mostly technical equipment. Before Canada and Germany , the United States with a value of 6,399,000 US dollars, the largest importers of East Timorese merchandise, which are almost exclusively to coffee. In 2018, the United States imported coffee worth $ 6,310,775 (2016: $ 10,349,459), equivalent to 1,477,740 kg (2016: 11,920,393 kg). There were also re-exports from East Timor to the United States amounting to 387,000 US dollars (6th place).

Web links

Commons : Relations between East Timor and the United States  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of the Embassy of East Timor in the United States (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The National Security Archive: Photocopy from Gerald R. Ford Library: Sensitive eyes only (PDF; 86 kB) December 30, 1974.
2. ↑ The National Security Archive: Photocopy from Gerald R. Ford Library: Sensitive eyes only (PDF; 317 kB) March 4, 1974.
3. ^ The National Security Archive: The Secretary's Staff Meeting (PDF; 174 kB) October 8, 1974.
4. ^ University of Kassel - AG Peace Research: East Timor 1975: USA gave the green light for invasion
5. ^ ^{A b} The National Security Archive: Ford, Kissinger and the Indonesian invasion, 1975–76
6. ^ East Timor Government: History , accessed August 5, 2012.
7. ↑ "Chega!" - Report of the CAVR (English)
8. ↑ Ben Kiernan: Genocide and Resistance in Southeast Asia: Documentation, Denial, and Justice in Cambodia and East Timor , 2011
9. ^ Homepage of the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network
10. ↑ Marc R. Pacheco: Biography , accessed September 7, 2019.
11. ↑ Dr Clinton Fernandes: If My Aunty Had Balls, She'd Be My Uncle: Dubious Counter-Factuals in East Timorese History , UNSW Canberra , accessed July 13, 2012.
12. ↑ Dan Nicholson: The Lorikeet Warriors: East Timorese new generation nationalist resistance, 1989-99 , Department of History, Faculty of Arts, The University of Melbourne, October 2001, accessed March 19, 2015.
13. ↑ INTERFET website of the Australian Armed Forces
14. ↑ Strategic and Military Lessons from East Timor ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
15. ↑ ^{a b} Website of the United States Embassy in Dili: History ( Memento of the original from February 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 25, 2015. 
16. ↑ Loro Horta : "Timor-Leste - The Dragon's Newest Friend", 2009 (PDF; 103 kB), accessed on May 20, 2012.
17. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} United States Government: Overview of bilateral assistance , accessed January 17, 2018.
18. ^ ^{A b c} Embassy of Timor-Leste in Washington: Former Ambassador Pinto's Biography , accessed July 15, 2016.
19. ↑ Ministry of Trade, Industry and the Environment: Biografia Vice Ministro ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed August 4, 2015. 
20. ↑ Embassy of the United States Dili: Emergency Message for US citizens: Explosion at US Embassy Housing compound in Dili, Timor-Leste , January 19, 2015 ( Memento of the original from February 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link became automatic used and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 9, 2015. 
21. ↑ Direcção-Geral de Estatística: External Trade Statistics Annual Reports 2016 ( Memento of the original from January 10, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed January 10, 2018. 
22. ↑ Direcção-Geral de Estatística: External Trade Statistics Annual Reports 2018 , accessed on April 17, 2019.