East Timor Pulls China Card in Floundering Energy Talks With Australia

East Timor Pulls China Card in Floundering Energy Talks With Australia
A motorcyle rider drives along a beach at sunset in Dili, East Timor, on April 13, 2007. Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
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East Timor President Jose Ramas-Horta is using China as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the Australian government over the construction of a gas pipeline from the resource-heavy Timor Sea.

The president said his country would be happy to enlist China’s help to facilitate the development of the pipeline from the Greater Sunrise gas fields project if Australia’s Woodside Energy sticks to its preference to direct gas through the northern Australian city of Darwin.

Victoria Kelly-Clark
Author
Victoria Kelly-Clark is an Australian based reporter who focuses on national politics and the geopolitical environment in the Asia-pacific region, the Middle East and Central Asia.
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