Australia should back East Timor’s LNG dream and head off China
The China card is being played against Australia everywhere in the Pacific. What does the fight over LNG processing in East Timor tell us about how to deal with it?
It was just a matter of time. East Timor’s President Jose Ramos-Horta has warned that if Woodside does not cave in to the long-standing demand to process Greater Sunrise gas onshore in that country, he will ask China to develop the project.
Of course, that is easier said than done. China has showed little interest in the project and Woodside holds about 33 per cent of the lease. Woodside insists the gas be piped to Darwin for processing.
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Geoff Raby was Australia’s ambassador to China, 2007-2011. His book Great Game On: the contest for Central Asia and Global Supremacy will be published in November by Melbourne University Press.
