Dili – Tiny East Timor has launched another swingeing attack on Australia as the two countries begin formal talks to settle their sea border and the ownership of billions of dollars in offshore oil and gas revenues.
Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said the issue is "a matter of life and death" for his country, which was Asia's poorest nation upon independence in May 2002.
In what was described as a "welcome statement," he said a boundary determined "in accordance with established principles of international law" would triple East Timor's income.
"Concretely, it means the money to immunise and educate every child in Timor-Leste [East Timor]. It means more children will reach the age of five years. It means more lives spent productively. It is, quite literally, a matter of life and death," Alkatiri told delegates. The prime minister, according to a statement released by his office, called for urgent negotiations to reach a deal.
"Timor-Leste loses one million dollars a day due to Australia's unlawful exploitation of resources in the disputed area. That is too many lost and wasted lives," he said, calling for monthly talks.
Australia wants to keep the border which was agreed with Jakarta after Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975. This would give it the lion's share of oil and gas reserves.
East Timor says the border should lie at the mid-point between the two countries, in line with international practice.
Alkatiri says Dili will not ratify an interim deal called the International Unitisation Agreement (IUA) because it gives East Timor only 18% of revenues from the Greater Sunrise field while handing Canberra 82%.
Alkatiri said East Timor was prepared to let any international tribunal decide the matter on the merits.
In March 2002 Australia withdrew from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea before the dispute reached the arbiter.
"Australia is not the only country to avoid international jurisdiction when it feels the law is against it. The rule of law is not only for weakest and the poorest. The powerful nation should be the example," Alkatiri said.
Canberra's policy has also come under fire from Australian critics. In the latest attack, the Catholic Commission for Justice, Development and Peace accused the government of bullying East Timor and making a "greedy grab" for energy revenues.
Alkatiri repeated criticism of Canberra for unilaterally taking resources from disputed parts of Greater Sunrise by awarding exploration licences.
He said he was confident of a fair outcome on sea borders eventually. "But we fear that, when this happens, all the petroleum will already be gone from our areas. This unjust result robs too many of our children of their future."
Alkatiri said energy companies operating in any part of the disputed area would have no rights if a boundary review later placed this area within East Timor. "Further, Timor-Leste will prosecute to the full extent of the law those that operate illegally in its maritime areas..."
Last week Australian energy giant Woodside warned it would scrap a multi-billion dollar oil and gas development in the Timor Sea unless East Timor ratifies the IUA.
Alkatiri said Australia acknowledged the existence of a disputed area when it signed the IUA but now cited its longstanding "occupation" of the area while East Timor was an Indonesian province.
"Indonesia's annexation of Timor-Leste was illegal and the fruit of that illegal act cannot be valid. Timor-Leste can not be deprived of its rights or territory because of a crime," he said. The talks are to wind up on Thursday.