Accession of East Timor to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations

The accession of East Timor to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a process that started following the independence of the country in 2002 when its leaders stated that it had made a "strategic decision" to become a member state of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the future. Closer ties with ASEAN are supported by all political parties in Timor Leste. Timor Leste would have by far the smallest GDP in the ASEAN, less than 15% of the smallest current ASEAN member state Laos. In 2022, the country was admitted "in principle" as the organization's 11th member, with full membership pending.

In 2022, President of East Timor, José Ramos-Horta stated that "It seems as if to reach ASEAN, you have to fulfill all the criteria to enter heaven. And then the next step is ASEAN."

Background

In 2002, East Timor was recognised as an observer of ASEAN and joined the ASEAN Regional Forum in 2005. In January 2007, the country acceded to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, pledging to renounce the use of force and binding East Timor to non-interference in the internal affairs of ASEAN member states.

In 2005, Timor Leste said it wanted to be a member by 2010. In December 2007 President José Ramos-Horta restated that joining was a top priority, and he hoped to join by 2012. In January 2009, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said that his country would support Timor Leste's membership of ASEAN by 2012.

Accession efforts

East Timor officially applied for membership in ASEAN on 4 March 2011. After elections in 2012, the new government reaffirmed their commitment to joining the association. While Indonesia, which Timor Leste gained their independence from in 2002, has pushed for them to be granted ASEAN membership, other countries, such as Singapore and Laos, have objected on the grounds that Timor Leste is not yet developed enough to join. However, after the ASEAN summit in April 2013, Secretary General of ASEAN Lê Lương Minh stated that all member states now supported Timor Leste's admission to the association. Minh also stated that "Timor Leste is not yet ready to join ASEAN. So we are pushing them to qualify the obligations". Philippine President Benigno Aquino III pledged his country's support to Timor Leste's ASEAN membership in June 2013. The Philippines has previously supported Timor Leste's ASEAN membership through official documents in 2002 and 2010.

By September 2013, the ASEAN's Coordinating Council Working Group was still evaluating East Timor's membership application, and Minh said that there was no timeline for when the assessment would be completed. Singapore pledged that it would not block East Timor's membership in the association, with their Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, Grace Fu, saying "For any member to come into ASEAN and to be ready for 2015 will be quite a big step. Whether Timor Leste is ready, whether it has its eyes on 2015, we like to have a working group to evaluate". In November 2013, U Aung Htoo, ASEAN Affairs Department deputy director, said that Timor Leste would not be ready to join in 2014 since they do not have an embassy in all 10 current ASEAN member states, a necessity for membership.

In 2015, Timor Leste said it is now ready to join the association at any time, telling via Timor Leste's ambassador to Malaysia that their country had at least fulfilled two major requirements for ASEAN membership such as the country was located in this region and it had opened embassies in ASEAN member countries. The Philippines re-echoed its support for Timor Leste's accession to ASEAN on the same year.

In 2017, the Philippines, a close ally of Timor Leste, became the ASEAN host for 2017. A general meeting is expected to conclude in 17 November, however, foreign reports in 4 November have said that ASEAN would bypass Timor Leste's membership in 2017, mostly because of its lack of human resources which was pointed out by Singapore. Despite this, it was announced that Timor Leste Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri will continue Timor Leste's participation in ASEAN as an observer during the 2017 summit. The Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia reiterated Timor Leste's membership application during the summits, however, the other 6 ASEAN member states led by Singapore did not support the move. On the last day of the summit, the Philippines was mandated by tradition to pass the ASEAN chairmanship to Singapore, whose chairmanship begins in January.

As according to the ASEAN chairman's statement which hosted by the Philippines in 2018, the association is still studying Timor Leste's application for membership. Despite Singapore being historically opposing Timor-Leste's accession to the association due to economic reasons, the country began to openly stating they are welcoming the country's membership application when Timorese Prime Minister visited the latter.

In June 2019, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed his country support for Timor Leste to become the 11th member of ASEAN ahead of a meeting with Timor Leste Minister of Foreign Affairs Dionísio Babo. Since Thailand took over the chairmanship of the association in 2019, Timor Leste Foreign Affairs Minister Dionísio noted that a fact-finding mission has been formed to visit their country in September to determine their readiness in joining the association, adding that Brunei has given assurance to support the country's bid to join ASEAN, in which the latter hopes "it will happen sooner rather than later". Further in July, Malaysia's Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah reiterated their support for the country to join ASEAN during his meeting with Dionísio who was in Putrajaya for a visit in the same month, telling their country stand that Malaysia is always consistent to support Timor Leste's admission into the association ever since the republic submitted its application in 2011. Similar support was expressed by Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in the same month during the plenary session of the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in Bangkok, Thailand where she explained that "Indonesian support has been expressed many times even since the beginning, not only on political sense, but including through various assistance schemes to prepare and improve Timor-Leste capacity to meet the requirements in joining the association".

In 2021, Timor Leste, under the influence of Cambodia, voted to ''abstain'' in a United Nations resolution which aimed to condemn the military dictatorship in Myanmar which ousted the democratically-elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The vote met backlash from pro-democracy groups in Myanmar, which experts say have tarnished Timor-Leste's membership bid. It gained favor from Cambodia, which only has a minor influence in the region (largely because of its ties with China). Other states, as experts noted, may become against the inclusion of Timor Leste in ASEAN due to the pro-China and anti-democracy vote. East Timorese officials expressed their regret and called the vote a "vote of shame", while calling out who made the decision at the UN assembly. Following his 2022 reelection, Ramos-Horta reiterated the country's desire to join ASEAN, aiming for a 2023 admission when Indonesia is set to chair the organization.

In November 2022, following the 40th/41st ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh, the organization issued statement agreeing "in principle" to East Timor's membership, granting East Timor observer status at high-level meetings and stating that a roadmap to full membership would be submitted in the 2023 summit.

See also

* Accession of Papua New Guinea to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
* Enlargement of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations

References

Further reading

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{{Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

Foreign relations of East Timor
East Timor