Australia–Indonesia Border - Disputes - Timor Gap

Timor Gap

Australia and Indonesia were engaged in negotiations to solve a dispute over overlapping claims to the continental shelf in the Timor Gap when East Timor was annexed and became part of Indonesian territory in 1975. After the two earlier seabed boundary treaties, Indonesia was determined that the seabed boundary that would close the Timor Gap would lie along the median line between the two countries. Australia however saw that its continental shelf should stretch to the Timor Trough, a deep trench in the Timor Sea which was located 40 nautical miles (74 km) from the southern shore of Timor and at least 250 nautical miles (460 km) from Australia.

Talks began in 1979 but there was no agreement over the permanent maritime boundary. Instead, the two countries settled for a "sovereignty neutral" agreement in 1989 which allowed joint exploitation and equal sharing of petroleum resources in a "zone of cooperation" which lay in between the extremes of the claims by the two countries.

The 1989 treaty was no longer valid once East Timor seceded from Indonesia in 1999, and the new state was not bound by the treaty. Indonesia had also informed Australia later that year that it was no longer bound by the Timor Gap Treaty.

The dispute over the Timor Gap now is between Australia and East Timor and does not involve Indonesia. However, Indonesia may have to become a party in negotiations to establish the Australia-East Timor-Indonesia border tripoints if East Timor chooses not to be bound by the current "width" of the Timor Gap which was decided by Australia and Indonesia (through the 1972 treaty) without consultation with the East Timorese or Portugal which was then the colonial administrator of East Timor.