The release of Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi offers ‘a window of opportunity for dialogue and reconciliation that everyone should take,’ Ramos-Horta said Vítor Quintã - Macau Daily Times - 15/11/2010
Local entrepreneurs are “very interested” in investing in East Timor and a trade delegation is likely to visit the country next year, Timorese President José Ramos-Horta said yesterday. Historical links and a high per capita spending make Macau “obviously a priority” for the Southeast Asian state’s export efforts, he added.
Ramos-Horta met with local businessmen on the sidelines of the third Ministerial Conference between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. The aim was to attract investment in areas such as the production of “organic tropical fruits and flowers, as well as aquaculture,” he said, which could later be sold to Macau.
“Our economy is too small, so we cannot delude ourselves into exporting into the whole of China. We should choose specific niches where we can create a special relationship.” The President believes that Macau can be one of those territories.
During East Timor’s fight for independence against Indonesia, its refugees “always found in Macau a far more receptive community that gave them tremendous support over the years,” he stressed. Since 2002 many have returned, “bringing knowledge with them to the tremendous benefit of the country,” Ramos-Horta described.
For instance, he gave the example of an East-Timorese businessman who lived in Macau for many years is now back in East Timor and is close to opening “the first real factory” in the state. The President said that the electric appliances unit will employ 3,000 people once fully operational, which should happen “in six months, maybe one year”.
Chinese technology
The relationship with China is evolving “beyond humanitarian aid and financial assistance, as East Timor becomes a significant buyer of Chinese technology,” he explained. For instance, the country has purchased two patrol boats from the Mainland, worth USD 30 million (MOP 239.5 million).
Furthermore, a Chinese company won the tender for East Timor’s electricity distribution network, worth almost USD 400 million (MOP 3.19 billion). The two-year project aims to provide energy to 80 percent of the country, Ramos-Horta said. “What we buy from China nowadays by far overtakes the bilateral Chinese financial assistance,” he stressed.
Still, the President told Macau Daily Times, the country is striving to maintain good diplomatic and economic relations with “everyone”.
“Some say East Timor is under Australian influence, some say it’s under US influence. But then we buy two little patrol boats from China, immediately the press in Australia said China was increasing its presence in East Timor,” he laughed.
“We have no hang-ups, no restrictions in relations with any country,” Ramos-Horta said, including Indonesia. “Actually, Indonesia was one of the countries that more actively promoted our membership to ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations]. We might be joining in a year or two,” he added.
Dialogue for Burma
The release of Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi offers “a window of opportunity for dialogue and reconciliation that everyone should take,” he said.
“It’s time for Western countries, especially Europe and the US, to review the sanction policy and to engage the regime in dialogue,” Ramos-Horta stressed. The imposition of sanctions against the military junta “only harms the poor people of Burma,” he said.
On the other hand, the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize winner hinted that the nomination of jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo as this year’s winner “will not influence” the evolution of Mainland politics.
The East Timor President said he had “never heard” of Liu until the Nobel Committee’s decision. Nonetheless, he added, “there is no Nobel Prize nor any outside power and pressure that can influence the course of events in China”.
“As a friend, my advice to Europe and the US is: when it comes to China, caution is needed. It’s a huge country, with five thousands years of history filled with unrest. To Chinese people the memories of past misery and the dangers of instability are still fresh.” China is a country that “evolves naturally, by its own will,” Ramos-Horta warned.
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