Negotiations Between Australia And Indonesia On The Delimitation Of The Timor Sea(1975-1989)

After World War II,the rich natural resources in the Timor Sea gradually attracted the attention of Australia,Portugal and Indonesia.However,due to its unique geographical structure,the countries around Timor Sea have different views on the demarcation.Australia supports the theory of "two continental shelves",while Indonesia and Portugal oppose it’s formulation.In the early 1970 s,Indonesia made a huge concession,Australia and Indonesia completed a demarcation agreement around the Timor Sea.But the Timor Gap is still unresolved.Portugal stands firm and rejected Australia’s delimitation position.On December 7,1975,the East Timor crisis culminated in the military operations of the Indonesian army,which annexed East Timor the following year.Timor Sea negotiations have been put on the agenda again.And how to make a choose between East Timor’s ownership and Timor Sea negotiations has become a challenge for Australian Government.After more than two years negotiation,Australia amended "long-term pragmatism" and in 1979 formally agreed to recognize East Timor belongs to Indonesia in exchange for negotiations in the Timor Sea.Since then,Australia and Indonesia have been negotiating for more than a decade on the Timor Gap around the Timor Sea.At the beginning of the negotiation,in order to avoid the conflict of demarcation positions,the two governments adopted the negotiation strategy of "avoiding the heavy and ignoring the light",and tried to reach consensus in other areas related to the Timor Sea.As a result,the negotiations proceeded slowly,only the interim fishing line in the Timor Sea has been completed.In 1984,Australian delegation proposed the "joint development zone" in the conjunction with the international precedents and the original proposal of the Indonesian delegation to resolve the issue of the delimitation between Australia and Indonesia.The proposal accelerated the process of negotiations between the two countries,but stalled in 1986 because of the Jenkins incident.In 1988,after the normalization of relations between Australia and Indonesia,the two countries quickly reached an agreement on the original basis,and formally signed the Timor Gap Treaty in 1989.The Treaty creatively resolved the demarcation of the Timor Sea,and provided legal guarantees for the petroleum development of the Timor gap.But because of the special historical period,the outcome of the negotiations between Australia and Indonesia was condemned by the international community,and Australia’s relations with Portugal were greatly affected.The negotiation process of the treaty runs through the development of bilateral relations between Australia and Indonesia in the 1980 s,reflecting the characteristics of interdependence and fragility between the two countries.