East Timor President Jose Ramas-Horta is using China as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the Australian government over the construction of a gas pipeline from the resource-heavy Timor Sea.
The president said his country would be happy to enlist China’s help to facilitate the development of the pipeline from the Greater Sunrise gas fields project if Australia’s Woodside Energy sticks to its preference to direct gas through the northern Australian city of Darwin.
The Greater Sunrise fields are located approximately 450 kilometres northwest of Darwin and 150 kilometres south of Timor-Leste. It is estimated to be worth around $70 billion (US$50 billion) and holds around 226 million barrels of gas….