{"id":1345,"date":"2018-03-08T01:22:37","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T01:22:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/?p=1345"},"modified":"2018-03-08T01:22:37","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T01:22:37","slug":"australia-and-east-timor-sign-historic-maritime-border-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/2018\/03\/08\/australia-and-east-timor-sign-historic-maritime-border-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia and East Timor sign historic maritime border deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"story-body__introduction\">Australia and East Timor have signed a historic treaty on a permanent maritime border in the Timor Sea.<\/p>\n<p>The deal ends a decade-long dispute between the neighbours over rights to the sea&#8217;s rich oil and gas reserves.<\/p>\n<p>East Timor, one of the world&#8217;s poorest nations, will now gain the majority of any future revenue.<\/p>\n<p>The countries signed the deal at the UN headquarters in New York, after negotiations in the international court of arbitration.<\/p>\n<p>UN Secretary General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres praised the &#8220;vision and determination&#8221; of both nations in achieving the agreement.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">How did conflict arise?<\/h2>\n<p><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-asia-pacific-14919009\">After East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste, gained independence from Indonesia<\/a>\u00a0in 2002, no permanent maritime boundary was established between Australia and the new nation.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, the two sides agreed on a temporary boundary, but East Timor later argued that deal had been unfairly forced upon them.<\/p>\n<p>It believed its more powerful neighbour had an unfairly large share of access to oil and gas fields that are estimated to be worth tens of billions of dollars.<\/p>\n<p>In 2016,\u00a0<a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-australia-37426653\">East Timor contested the arrangements<\/a>\u00a0in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague. Mediation between the nations concluded last week.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">What is in the new deal?<\/h2>\n<p>The landmark treaty sets out the maritime border at the midway point between the countries, in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).<\/p>\n<p>Australia had pushed for a border at the edge its continental shelf, which would have put the boundary closer to East Timor.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-australia-35877915\">Dili protests over Australia oil dispute<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"media-landscape has-caption full-width\"><span class=\"image-and-copyright-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image__img js-image-replace\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/EEA2\/production\/_100309016_a294fd4a-5eea-440a-ad71-63aa29c29979.jpg\" alt=\"Hundreds of East Timorese activists rallied in 2016 outside the Australian embassy in Dili over the the Timor Sea boundary dispute\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\" \/><span class=\"off-screen\">Image copyright<\/span><span class=\"story-image-copyright\">AFP<\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"media-caption\"><span class=\"off-screen\">Image caption<\/span><span class=\"media-caption__text\">A protest outside Australia&#8217;s embassy in East Timor in 2016 over the border dispute<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The new deal means East Timor will receive at least 70% of the largest oil field, Greater Sunrise, which is worth an estimated $40bn (\u00a328bn; A$51bn). Previously, revenue was to be split evenly between the countries.<\/p>\n<p>Australia will lose its jurisdiction in oil fields currently shared by both nations.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">How did each nation react?<\/h2>\n<p>Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said her nation had an &#8220;enduring interest&#8221; in East Timor&#8217;s prosperity, acknowledging the treaty as an important step.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As good friends and close neighbours, we want Timor Leste to achieve its economic potential,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>It was &#8220;momentous day&#8221; for East Timor, said Augusto Cabral Pereira, Deputy Minister of the Prime Minister for the Delimitation of Borders.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">What will happen now?<\/h2>\n<p>The new deal is a big win for\u00a0<a class=\"story-body__link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-36498163\">East Timor, which relies heavily on oil and gas for its economy, but had been running out of resources.<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Greater Sunrise oil field is yet to be mined, with a consortium of miners blaming delays on the long-running border dispute.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media-landscape no-caption full-width\"><span class=\"image-and-copyright-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image__img js-image-replace\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef-1.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/115B2\/production\/_100309017_70318australiaeasttimor.png\" alt=\"Map\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\" \/><\/span><\/figure>\n<p>Canberra had faced accusations it was colluding with oil companies to have gas processed in Australia, according to media reports &#8211; an assertion Ms Bishop denied.<\/p>\n<p>Under the agreement, East Timor will receive a greater slice of revenue &#8211; 80% &#8211; if gas is processed in Australia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australia and East Timor have signed a historic treaty on a permanent maritime border in the Timor Sea. The deal ends a decade-long dispute between the neighbours over rights to the sea&#8217;s rich oil and gas reserves. East Timor, one of the world&#8217;s poorest nations, will now gain the majority of any future revenue. The countries signed the deal at&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/2018\/03\/08\/australia-and-east-timor-sign-historic-maritime-border-deal\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1345"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1346,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345\/revisions\/1346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}