'Illegally and Beautifully': The United States, the Indonesian Invasion of East Timor and the International Community, 1974-76

This article examines the international community's response to Indonesia's 1975 invasion of East Timor in light of recently declassified documents from the US, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. It argues that anti-Communist and geopolitical concerns at the end of the Vietnam War...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCold war history Vol. 5; no. 3; pp. 281 - 315
Main Author Simpson, Brad
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Taylor & Francis Group 01.08.2005
Subjects
Australia
Cold War
Communism
East Timor
Geopolitics
Indonesia
International community
International Law
International relations
Invasion
Invasions
Military intervention
Military regimes
New Zealand
Political Economy
Political history
Self-government
U.S.A
United States of America
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Summary:This article examines the international community's response to Indonesia's 1975 invasion of East Timor in light of recently declassified documents from the US, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. It argues that anti-Communist and geopolitical concerns at the end of the Vietnam War were not the only, and perhaps not even the most important explanations of Western support for Indonesia's takeover of East Timor. Rather, this article suggests that beliefs that East Timor was too small and too primitive to merit self-governance reinforced the perceived imperative of maintaining friendly relations with the Suharto regime, whose growing importance in the regional political economy overshadowed its defiance of international law.
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ISSN:1468-2745
1743-7962
DOI:10.1080/14682740500222028