On Wednesday, Timor Leste President José Ramos-Horta slammed Europeans and the US for lecturing him on climate change, as the West asked the Pacific nation to give up a gas project in the southern part of the country.
The Pacific nation said that if Australia does not support the Greater Sunrise development project, it may have to turn to China for investment.
"We're not talking about maritime security. It's just a pipeline! And China will be just an investor. Australia rented the Darwin port to China; no one lost sleep over it," Ramos-Horta, who is visiting Australia, stated.
The president said that China, Indonesia, and South Korea had expressed an interest in developing a $50Bln gas project, located on the maritime border between Australia and Timor-Leste.
The US and its allies have been asking Timor Leste to abandon the gas development project because of worries about climate change.
"You Europeans - you were the ones who polluted the whole world with coal, with oil and everything that you can imagine. And we, unfortunately, discover oil and gas only now," the president said.
He invited European countries, Australia, and the US to give Timor Leste $100Bln if they insist on shunning the Greater Sunrise development project, adding, "other than that, please don't lecture me."
Timor Leste, located on strategic waterways near Australia, Indonesia, and Singapore, estimates revenues from Greater Sunrise will be in the region of $50Bln.
Timor Leste and Australia failed to negotiate on the development as Canberra wants gas to be piped 500km away to Darwin for processing. Timor-Leste is only 200km from the gas field.
President Ramos-Horta also assured the Asia-Pacific countries that he would not allow China to set up any military base in his country after there were rising concerns in the West about strengthening ties between Beijing and Dili.
"We have a responsibility to our neighbors, to Australia, to Indonesia, to other South-East Asian countries not to allow Timor Leste to be a base for any hostile power or power that is perceived by our neighbors to be potentially hostile," the president said when asked whether his country would allow such base.
The assurance comes as a great relief to Australia and its western allies, already alarmed by the China-Solomon Islands security agreement signed in April this year.
The assurance came as Australia and Timor Leste signed their reciprocal defense agreement. The pact allows the two countries to increase defense and security cooperation, especially in the maritime domain, given their shared border and adjacent maritime zones.