East
Timor is reviving its attempt to nullify a multi-billion-dollar oil and gas
treaty with Australia on the grounds Australia spied on Timorese officials
during the treaty negotiations in 2004.
Foreign
Minister Julie Bishop has described the move as disappointing and said the
Government believed differences between the two nations were best resolved
through negotiation and consultation.
East
Timor has been seeking to have the treaty declared invalid in order to
establish a permanent maritime boundary halfway between the two countries,
which would put more of the Greater Sunrise oil and gas field within East
Timor's border.
Last
year East Timor agreed to put the arbitration on hold so the
two nations could resolve the matteroutside court.
In
a statement released on Wednesday, East Timor's prime minister Rui Araujo said
his country agreed to the six-month hiatus on the proviso the break would be
used to produce a road map for talks on a permanent maritime boundary.
But
he said that expectation "has not been met".
Ms
Bishop had previously said an agreement to develop a plan for talks on a
maritime boundary was never part of the deal to put the arbitration on hold.
But
East Timor has agreed to drop a case it took to the International Court of Justice
(ICJ) 18 months ago after the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) raided the Canberra office of its lawyer Bernard
Collaery and seized material to be used in the arbitration case.
East
Timor had been planning to use the material to support its allegation that
Australia's overseas intelligence agency, the Australian Secret Intelligence
Service (ASIS), spied on East Timor during the negotiations over the treaty
governing the Greater Sunrise field.
The
country has argued the alleged espionage gave Australia an unfair advantage in
the talks and wants the agreement torn up.
ASIO
also raided the home and seized the passport of a former ASIS officer, known as
Witness K, who had been due to travel to The Hague as East Timor's star witness
in the arbitration case.
Last
month, Australia agreed to hand back the seized material and
East Timor announced on Wednesday it would drop that action in the ICJ.
But
East Timor is "reactivating" the underlying arbitration case to have
the Greater Sunrise treaty — the Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea
— declared invalid.
Government
spokesman Agio Pereira said East Timor's preference was "always to avoid
legal confrontation and focus all our energy and resources on national
development".
However,
he said "it is the mandate of the government to defend the national
interest".
"Timor-Leste
is focusing on moving forward in its relationship with its neighbour to
substantive dialogue to finalise a permanent maritime boundary on the
principles of international law," Mr Pereira said.
By Sara
Everingham – ABC NEWS
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