Timor-Leste's
former leader Xanana Gusmao has again warned Australia that his fledgling
nation will not back away from a dispute between the two countries over
lucrative oil reserves below the Timor Sea.
Australia
and Timor-Leste are currently locked in a standoff over the maritime boundary
between the two countries, which determines who is entitled to what share of
that resource.
In
2013 East Timor launched a case in The Haguealleging the
Australia Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) covertly recorded Timorese
ministers and officials during oil and gas negotiations in Dili in 2004,
allegedly giving Australia the upper hand.
Late
last year Australia and Timor-Leste agreed to suspend the International Court of Justice
hearinginto their bitter spy row in an effort to resolve their differences
amicably.
But
during an interview with 666 ABC Radio's Genevieve Jacobs in Canberra, Mr
Gusmao reiterated his nation's determination to ensure its sovereignty is not
compromised by the maritime boundary issue.
"I
participated in the struggle for independence for 24 years. When we got
independence after the referendum in 1999, becoming president in 2002, I told
the people that independence is not a flag," he said.
"Independence
is not having a state, presidents, parliaments, governments. Independence is to
be the owner of our sovereignty. And sovereignty is the capacity to decide what
belongs to us, what is ours."
'Australia
is a country of principles'
Asked
how Timor-Leste would deal with the Australian Government's clear diplomatic
warnings about pursing the matter further in the international arena, Mr Gusmao
said Timor-Leste admired Australia, and believed that Australia was greater
than this.
"That
Australia is a country of principles. Not playing with principles," he said.
"We
will continue to fight in the international area. We have a cause, and we have
a case in the International Court of Justice ... in this, I can tell you we
will not give up."
Mr
Gusmao said building the oil sector was key to Timor-Leste's plans for future
growth to ensure jobs and prosperous future for its people.
"The
three main sectors that we will try to improve and motivate will be the oil
sector, the horticultural and the tourism," he said.
A
former resistance fighter, Ms Gusmao was prime minister of his country for
seven until February, when he stepped down to facilitate a generational
leadership transition.
He
was his country's first president in 2002 after a 24-year struggle against
Indonesian occupation.
Mr
Gusmao was in Canberra on Monday to deliver the ST Lee Lecture on Asia and the
Pacific at The Australian National University.
666 ABC Canberra - 17 Mar 2015 - PHOTO: Timor-Leste's
former president Xanana Gusmao interviewed in Canberra by 666 ABC Canberra
presenter Genevieve Jacobs. (666 ABC Canberra)
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