IPRIS

All eyes on Timor Leste: juggling regional security sensitivities

Pedro Seabra

How should a small and fragile state cope with active interest in its underlined strategic value for the entire region from several surrounding neighbors? Moreover, how should such a country skillfully handle contradictory defense considerations emanating from a distinctive set of international security suitors without antagonizing any of them? As straightforward as they may seem, these are just some of the questions that today's policymakers must answer in Timor Leste, a country exhibiting more and more signs of a carefully designed security approach, based simultaneously on an equidistance between every major player and occasional tokens of commitment for a selective few.

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