East
Timor is taking Australia to the United Nations to solve the dispute over its
maritime border under international maritime law.
The
island nation has long argued current arrangements mean it is missing out on
billions of dollars in revenue from offshore oil and gas fields.
In
a statement, the East Timorese Government said while there were temporary
resource-sharing arrangements in the Timor Sea, there was no permanent maritime
boundary between Australia and the small island nation.
It
has now approached the UN to begin a formal conciliation process conducted by
an independent panel of experts.
Australia
has withdrawn from the maritime boundary jurisdiction of the UN Convention on
the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
In
a statement, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Australia
was disappointed East Timor had decided to take the matter to the UN.
"We
stand by the existing treaties, which are fair and consistent with
international law," the spokeswoman said.
"These
treaties have benefited both our countries and enabled Timor-Leste to
accumulate a Petroleum Fund worth more than $16 billion.
"Timor-Leste's
decision to initiate compulsory conciliation contravenes prior agreements
between our countries not to pursue proceedings relating to maritime
boundaries."
East
Timor believed if the maritime boundary was decided under UNCLOS, most of the
oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea would lie within their territory.
The
location of the maritime border in relation to a multi-billion-dollar oil and
gas field in the Timor Sea is central to a spying scandal that has rocked
relations between East Timor and Australia.
Australia
has been accused of bugging East Timor's cabinet office during negotiations for
a treaty that would divide the revenues from the $40 billion Greater Sunrise
oil and gas field.
That
treaty ruled revenue from the Greater Sunrise field would be split evenly
between the two countries.
"Establishing
permanent maritime boundaries is a matter of national priority for Timor-Leste,
as the final step in realising our sovereignty as an independent state,"
Prime Minister Rui Maria de Araujo said.
"Under
international law, Australia is obliged to negotiate permanent maritime
boundaries with Timor-Leste but it has refused to do so, despite all our
invitations.
"This
has left us with only one option.
"This
process allows for a commission to assist our two countries to reach an
amicable solution on permanent maritime boundaries."
Dr
Araujo said his country is seeking a fair and equitable solution to what it
argues it is entitled to under international law.
'It's
really time to draw the line': Senior East Timor minister
Agio
Pereira is the Minister of State, Timor Leste's second most important Cabinet
position after the Prime Minister.
"It's
really time to draw the line to give more certainty for East Timor and to
consolidate more or less the sovereignty," he told the ABC's PM program.
Mr
Pereira argues that East Timor will be a safer, more secure country if the boundaries
change.
"The
sovereign access to natural resources is a very sacrosanct principle of UN
member states," he said.
"(A)
sovereign nation state, without that, does have a lot of constraints in terms
of full development of its own capacity, and that definitely will give Timor
much higher certainty and better understanding of its potential."
This
is the first time in the UN's history that the world body is being asked to
step in.
Mr
Pereira said Australia must abide by the UN's findings.
"Australia
has been trying hard in the last few years to be as best of a citizen in
international community as possible.
"I
think Australia cannot go on lecturing other countries about respecting
international law in the limitation of maritime boundaries, and yet look the
other way in its closest neighbour, Timor Leste."
Mr
Pereira made the case that Australia was behaving like China in its approach to
the domination of the South China Sea. But he chose his words very carefully in
pushing that line.
"It's
in various fronts. I think Australia also played a very important role in other
international issues, and that's very important. But you must lead by
example."
But
he said he was "not necessarily" comparing Canberra with Beijing.
"We
see the foreign policy of Australia as a complex one in geopolitical sense, in
its regional security sense, in economic sense. We respect that."
A
history of treaties in the Timor Sea
In
1989 Australia and Indonesia signed the Timor Gap Treaty when East Timor was
still under Indonesian occupation.
East
Timor was left with no permanent maritime border and Indonesia and Australia
got to share the wealth in what was known as the Timor Gap.
In
2002 East Timor gained independence and the Timor Sea Treaty was signed, but no
permanent maritime border was negotiated.
East
Timor has long argued the border should sit halfway between it and Australia,
placing most of the Greater Sunrise oil and gas field in their territory.
In
2004 East Timor started negotiating with Australia again about the border.
In
2006 the CMATS treaty was signed, but no permanent border was set, and instead
it ruled that revenue from the Greater Sunrise oil and gas field would be split
evenly between the two countries.
