Article: AP News
Myanmar’s military government has expelled East Timor’s top diplomat, ordering him to leave the country by Feb. 20, 2026, after East Timor’s courts accepted a criminal complaint against Myanmar’s armed forces. The complaint, filed by the Chin Human Rights Organization, accuses Myanmar’s military leadership of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including attacks on civilians and other serious human rights abuses.
Myanmar’s foreign ministry denounced East Timor’s acceptance of the case, calling it inappropriate interference in the country’s internal affairs. Tensions have grown as East Timor’s president has openly criticized Myanmar’s military regime and engaged with rights advocates. The dispute is unusual within Southeast Asia, where governments often avoid publicly challenging one another over domestic conflicts, making this expulsion a significant diplomatic escalation between the two nations.
Historically, East Timor has experienced significant human rights abuses, starting with its colonization by Portugal, leaving it economically neglected and underdeveloped. Then, in WW2, Allied forces used the Island strategically. The ensuing Japanese invasion, therefore, led to devastating reprisals against civilians, and 8-13% of its population died. Once Portugal withdrew in 1975, Indonesia, 9 days after East Timor’s independence, invaded the country. Roughly 200,000 people, about a quarter of the population, are estimated to have died. Finally, in 2002, following a 1999 UN-backed referendum, Timor became independent.
East Timor’s level of collective trauma doesn’t just shape policy; it shapes national identity. So much so, the red on its flag represents the struggle for national liberation. Furthermore, Jose Ramos Horta, its president, won the Nobel Peace Prize. So Myanmar’s military coup, allegations of war crimes, and suppression of civilian political authority cannot be overlooked by the state. If he were to stay silent about Myanmar’s junta, it would contradict both his biography and East Timor’s identity.
In response, Myanmar threatened to block East Timor’s bid for ASEAN membership. Despite the inherent hurdle, it became the 11th member of ASEAN in October of last year. ASEAN’s norm is Non-interference, yet shortly after joining, East Timor began diplomatically interfering in the internal affairs of a member state, Myanmar. This was made easier, however, by ASEAN already suspending Myanmar’s participation due to the coup.
East Timor is a small and newly formed country. Its strength militarily is minimal; however, Ramos Horta has expressed his intent to intercede personally to try to resolve Myanmar’s raging civil war. Therefore, there is a high likelihood that East Timor will insert itself diplomatically and express support for the resistance movement against the military government in power through ASEAN. Its influence will likely take the form of legal measures, such as international arrest warrants. Myanmar is in the midst of a civil war; its response to Timor Leste will likely not go any further than expelling diplomats and attempting to silence them diplomatically. The battle in this case is over legitimacy and geopolitical realignment.
In class, we learned about interstate and intrastate conflict. Myanmar’s situation fits an intrastate armed conflict, as there is an ongoing civil war. We also learned about scale: the conflict in Myanmar is currently a limited war, which therefore means unconventional warfare such as insurgency and guerrilla tactics.