Sino-East Timorese Relations

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Sino-East Timorese Relations
Location of China and East Timor
China People's RepublicPeople's Republic of China East TimorEast Timor
China East Timor

The People's Republic of China and East Timor have friendly relations . When East Timor was restored to independence on May 20, 2002, China was the first state to recognize the Southeast Asian country.

history

Chinese temple in Dili (1901)

The Chinese official for overseas trade, Zhao Rukuo , named Timor a place rich in sandalwood in 1225. The sandalwood tree (Santalum album) is not only found on Timor, but also on various Pacific islands , Madagascar , Australia and India, but only Timor, Sumba and Solor provided the highest quality of white sandalwood . An ancient bronze drum of the Dong Son culture from what is now Vietnam and southern China, which was found in East Timor, documents contacts between the regions that could be 2000 years old. For centuries, Chinese traders were the only foreigners who penetrated the interior of Timor. The Chinese traders only disappeared between 1368 and 1405 due to China's self-imposed isolation from the outside world . The same happened from 1550 to 1567 when China banned its traders from foreign trade a second time. During this time, the Portuguese initially took over the trade routes between the Middle Kingdom and Timor. From the 17th century onwards, the Chinese again dominated trade, even between the two Portuguese colonies Macau and Portuguese Timor , making trade unprofitable for Portugal. More and more Chinese settled in Timor, forming an influential minority that still exists today. During the Japanese occupation of Timor , the Chinese population was particularly hard hit by reprisals.

The People's Republic of China was one of twelve states that recognized the Democratic Republic of East Timor, which was proclaimed on November 28, 1975 . China also supported East Timor against the Indonesian occupation that followed just nine days after independence was declared. Attempts by China to supply the East Timorese resistance with weapons, however, failed. After Mao Zedong's death in 1976, the People's Republic's commitment to East Timor declined and in 1978 it ended almost entirely. Unofficial contacts through individuals remained, for example, Marí Alkatiri maintained contact with the People's Republic via Hong Kong and its missions abroad. In 1997, Alkatiri was a guest of the Chinese government at the ceremony to hand over Hong Kong to China. Financial aid for the Timorese resistance was channeled through Chinese businessmen. Large parts of the Chinese population fled Timor to Australia , where many of them still live today.

Foreign Ministry building in Dili

Since the UN administration and the renewed independence of East Timor in 2002, the People's Republic has been one of the country's most important partners. It was also the first state to officially establish diplomatic relations with East Timor in 2002. Since January 2000, China has been sending security forces to UN missions to help East Timor stabilize. In addition to trade relations, cooperation is also carried out on a military and cultural level. China supplied uniforms for the Timorese armed forces , patrol boats, trains farmers, officials, soldiers and police officers, sends medical teams and security forces, invites Timorese students and financed the construction of the presidential palace , the foreign ministry in Dili and the army headquarters. Chinese companies are also building the first East Timorese motorway from Suai to Beaco .

Macau generally uses the People's Republic of China for its trade relations with Portuguese-speaking countries . This is where the historical and cultural connections work.

In addition to the native Chinese minority, several thousand citizens of the People's Republic work in East Timor. The Associação Comercial da Comunidade Chinesa Timorense (ACCCTO), which was founded on October 22, 1912, represents the interests of the Chinese in East Timor . There is a Chinese cemetery and a Chinese temple in Dili .

The East Timorese in China are mostly students.

diplomacy

Chinese New Year 2018 at the Embassy in Dili

The Chinese embassy in Dili opened in 2002. It is located on Avernida de Portugal in Kampung Alor .

In December 2004, Charge d'affairs Leonor Cardoso Mendes Mota opened the East Timorese embassy in Beijing .

East Timor is committed to the one-China policy . Taiwanese attempts to forge relations with East Timor met stiff resistance from the People's Republic, for example at the opening of a Taiwanese trade and cultural office in Dili and a visit by a Taiwanese delegation in the spring of 2006.

economy

According to the East Timor Statistics Office , imports to East Timor from the People's Republic of China had a value of 65,157,000 US dollars, which puts China in fourth place among the countries of origin. Hong Kong, which is listed separately, ranks second with goods valued at US $ 78,643,000, including diesel alone for US $ 62,344,579 and aviation fuel for US $ 1,134,228. For example, cement, building parts and equipment come from the People's Republic.

Goods to the value of US $ 2,187,000 went from East Timor to the People's Republic in 2018 (fifth place among the target countries) and goods to the value of US $ 19,000 to Hong Kong (22nd place). China is in 16th place among the buyers of East Timorese coffee with 57,600 kg of coffee worth 66,528 US dollars. There were also re-exports from East Timor to the People's Republic of 379,000 US dollars (7th place).

Guandi Temple (Dili)

Web links

Commons : Sino-East Timorese Relations  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Loro Horta : Timor-Leste - The Dragon's Newest Friend , 2009 (PDF file; 100 kB)
  2. ↑ a b Geoffrey C. Gunn: History of Timor , available from the Centro de Estudos sobre África, Ásia e América Latina , CEsA of the TU Lisbon (PDF file; 805 kB).
  3. ↑ Sapo.tl: Tambor Dong Son vietnamita com cerca de 2000 anos found in Timor-Leste , November 18, 2015 , accessed on November 18, 2015.
  4. ↑ Laura Suzanne Meitzner Yoder: Custom, Codification, Collaboration: Integrating the Legacies of Land and Forest Authorities in Oecusse Enclave, East Timor , p. 57 ( Memento of March 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), Yale University 2005 (PDF file; 1.46 MB)
  5. ^ Frédéric Durand: Three centuries of violence and struggle in East Timor (1726-2008). (PDF; 243 kB) Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence, (online), June 7, 2011, accessed on May 28, 2012, ISSN  1961-9898
  6. ↑ Ben Kiernan: War, Genocide, and Resistance in East Timor, 1975–99: Comparative Reflections on Cambodia , Yale East Timor Project, page 202 ( Memento of November 6, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 219 kB)
  7. ↑ Xinhua, May 11, 2010, Chinese peacekeeping squad leaves for East Timor
  8. ^ Sydney Morning Herald, June 7, 2010, Relations strained as East Timor buys Chinese navy boats
  9. ↑ Herald Tribune, July 11, 2007, China's 'soft power' winning allies in Asia
  10. ↑ Foreign Ministry of the People's Republic of China: Remarks of Ambassador Xiao Jianguo on the Inauguration Ceremony of Suai Highway , November 19, 2018 , accessed December 22, 2018.
  11. ↑ Macau Hub: Macau meeting strengthens China's business relations with Portuguese-speaking countries , June 1, 2017 , accessed June 5, 2017.
  12. ↑ Timor Post: Chinese community mark a history in TL , October 22, 2012.
  13. ↑ Website of the East Timorese Embassy in China: About the embassy ( Memento of April 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 24, 2015.
  14. ↑ AFAR: China and East Timor. Good, but not best friends , August 15, 2006 ( memento from September 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 27, 2017.
  15. ↑ a b Direcção-Geral de Estatística: External Trade Statistics Annual Reports 2018 , accessed on April 17, 2019.