Chapter 214 The Small Country's Position

Mu Haoyang's decision to land in Northeast Australia was related to a person's accidental death.

This person is Obiye, the Prime Minister of Timor-Leste.

By the time the war broke out, this country that had been independent for half a century was still one of the poorest countries in the world. Among the approximately two million people in the country, one and two million people needed to survive on relief, and the basic materials needed by the country basically depended on international aid.

In Southeast Asia, East Timor is one of the most inconspicuous countries.

Before the outbreak of the war, East Timor was the only country in Southeast Asia, except for the permanently neutral Brunei and the pro-American Singapore, which was not aligned with China.

The reason is simple. East Timor is a Catholic country, with nearly 95% of its citizens being believers of God.

Of course, before the outbreak of the war, East Timor and China had not had a good relationship. Even if there was no direct conflict, they always regarded China as the biggest threat. The main reason was that China formed an alliance with Indonesia, and East Timor was originally independent of Indonesia and had always been wary of Indonesia. Influenced by this, this poor country had always adhered to a pro-Western political stance for half a century before the war.

In the first few decades, East Timor's pro-Western stance did not pay much attention.

In any case, the United States will definitely look down on Timor-Leste, a small country that has no population, no resources, and no important strategic position.

It was not until the Civil War broke out in the Philippines and the pro-China government came to power that the United States began to pay attention to East Timor.

In the years before the war broke out, the United States had been trying to win over East Timor and even planned to make East Timor the second Singapore in Southeast Asia.

It's just that East Timor only tends to the West, rather than seeking to the West.

At that time, the political contradictions in East Timor were also very sharp. Half of them wanted to form an alliance with the United States, and the other half wanted to become a permanent neutral country like Brunei.

In fact, the United States was a little hesitant at that time.

The main thing is that before the war broke out, Singapore was already an ally of the United States. Is it necessary for the United States to support another ally in Southeast Asia?

Ultimately, the United States gave up its efforts to form an alliance with East Timor.

Judging from the situation at that time, the main reason was related to the United States' war plan, that is, the United States could not build East Timor into a military fortress before the war broke out.

Interestingly, in the actions to win over East Timor, the most active one is not the United States, but Australia.

In fact, after East Timor's independence, Australia has been the largest aid country in East Timor. The free aid accounts for 60% of the amount received by East Timor every year, and it also provides some additional benefits from time to time. For example, during global natural disasters, Australia provided a total of 1.5 million tons of food to East Timor and distributed US-aided anti-drug drugs to East Timor.

Australia actively assists East Timor, mainly because East Timor blocks Australia and Southeast Asia.

In Australia's view, East Timor is a strategic barrier to prevent China from moving south.

Unfortunately, Australia's national strength is very limited, and most people have a sense of peace and do not support the government's actions in East Timor. The most extreme incident was that in 2038, Prime Minister Luke, who led Australia through a global natural disaster, was forced to resign because he did not declare to Congress when he provided food and drug assistance to East Timor.

The year before the war broke out, Obier served as Prime Minister of East Timor.

Obiye is a Catholic, but not a pro-Western figure, but a typical neutralist. His basic political proposition is to make East Timor a permanent neutral country.

The problem is that in the war, no country can remain truly neutral.

It is even more impossible for countries in war zones to remain neutral. For example, Brunei has long declared permanent neutrality, but it still opens ports to Chinese ships carrying military supplies, and provides China with oil and other materials throughout the war, and secretly helps China in war financing.

After the war broke out, China secretly contacted the East Timor authorities, hoping that East Timor would join the Oriental Alliance Group.

At first, Obiye's position was relatively tough. The main reason was that China did not have the strategic initiative and could not even provide security for allies in Southeast Asia.

By 2054, the situation changed.

As China gradually regained the initiative, launched strategic counterattacks in the Indian Ocean, the Western Pacific and the Southwest Pacific, seized the sea control power of the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific, and captured Digo Garcia and the Mariana Islands, and marched into the Solomon Islands. The overall situation of the war became beneficial to China. Obier realized that the situation in East Timor was very dangerous and his attitude relaxed.

At that time, what Obiye was most worried about was not the threat from China, but the threat from Indonesia.

Among the Oriental Alliance Group, Indonesia's status is not low, at least behind India, Pakistan, North Korea and Malaysia. If the Oriental Alliance Group wins this war, it will definitely divide the benefits of the war, and China is likely to give Indonesia a great affirmation. In Obiye's view, Indonesia will definitely demand annexation of East Timor, and China is likely to turn a blind eye.

If East Timor wants to maintain independence after the war, it must join the Oriental Alliance Group.

In any case, China will never allow one ally to annex another.

Of course, there is another more important issue, that is, there is not much time left for East Timor to make choices.

As the Chinese army advances step by step in the Southwest Pacific, it is only a matter of time to attack Australia. After the war in the Southwest Pacific ends, East Timor has no strategic value. In other words, if East Timor wants to participate in the war, it must be before Australia is defeated.

The problem is that there is no public opinion base for participating in the war in East Timor.

What's more, most people did not support China, but were very sympathetic to Australia. At that time, some fishermen in East Timor even spontaneously sailed to sea to search and rescue the shot downed US and Australian pilots, and then sent them to Australia, or to the Australian Embassy and Consulate in East Timor.

Don’t forget that more than ten years ago, it was Australia’s assistance that helped East Timor get through the difficulties.

The result was that when Obiye was secretly in contact with Chinese diplomats, he still seemed a little hesitant, but he was loosening his position on participating in the war.

In the eyes of Chinese diplomats, the refusal of Obiye to join the war is that the conditions offered by China are not high enough.

To this end, the Chinese Ambassador to East Timor made a suggestion to Obiye in April 2054, that is, Obiye announced his participation in the war, and China would send troops to control East Timor within 24 hours. If necessary, a special force could be sent in advance to protect Obiye and his family's safety. After the situation was controlled, Obiye would become the President of East Timor and be recognized by China.

As for other conditions, no one will be missing.

For example, after the war ends, China will ensure the independence of East Timor as a protector of East Timor and help East Timor develop its economy.

There is no doubt that this is a very tempting condition for Obiye.

However, he did not agree immediately because in his opinion, since China is willing to make so many guarantees, it may even give more preferential conditions.

In short, Obier intends to drag on it.

Judging from the situation at that time, Obiye should have delayed it because the US Navy has recovered its vitality. It is still possible that who will win the death of China and the United States.

Unfortunately, there was something wrong with this delay.

On May 7, Obiye died of a heart attack. The President of East Timor appointed Harani as the Prime Minister of the Government, and the Timor-Leste Defense Force quickly controlled the main towns in the country.

Almost overnight, Obiye's political power was uprooted.

Information disclosed after the war showed that Obiye was murdered, and it was his personal bodyguard, a very devout Catholic. The reason why the guards killed him was to learn that he was in secret contact with China and was already attracted by the conditions for joining the war.

Interestingly, this guard who regards Obier as a traitor does not know that China has long promised to respect the religious beliefs of the people of East Timor after the war, and would not force East Timor to break away from the Catholic Church in Rome, and ensure that East Timor has full religious freedom.

But at that time, the Chinese authorities did not know that Obiye was murdered.

Obiye had a heart disease and went to Australia in 2047 for a heart bypass surgery, and the forensic doctor also proved the cause of his death.

Harani, who replaced Obiye, was also a neutralist, but a pro-Western neutralist.

Although theoretically speaking, it is not small to win over Harani through diplomatic negotiations, it is definitely too late to see from the perspective of time.

You should know that China's diplomatic efforts in East Timor have a lot to do with the combat operations against Australia.

If Timor-Leste participates in the war as a member of the Oriental Alliance Group, the Chinese army can set out from Timor-Leste, cross the Timor Sea, and land in northwest Australia. Without the foothold of Timor-Leste, even if it uses Indonesia's islands in the region, there will be worries.

The result was that Mu Haoyang had to give up the idea of ​​landing in northwest Australia.

It was May 2054.

From a time perspective, Mu Haoyang must have some concerns about the US Navy that has recovered, so he came up with a landing in northwest Australia.

The subsequent sea battle in the Solomon Islands made Mu Haoyang let go of this concern.

In fact, by late June, East Timor's position was no longer important, because when the US Navy was no longer a threat, Mu Haoyang would definitely not look far away. Even if East Timor participated in the war, he would choose his landing location in Northeast Australia.

Subsequently, the agreement reached between Mu Haoyang and Wei Chenglong further determined the plan for the attack on Australia.

By July 2054, the overall combat plan had been released, all disputes had been eliminated, and specific combat plans had begun to be formulated.

Chapter 214 The Small Country's Position
Chapter completed!