For a small state with a population approaching a million to have its own foreign service might seem an absurd luxury. Yet the briefest acquaintance with East Timor’s recent history and its precarious geographical position wedged between two giant neighbours – Indonesia and Australia – both of whom have involved it in armed conflict, underscores the importance of effective diplomacy in guaranteeing long-term security.
There is no way the state’s tiny armed forces – 1,500 front-line infantry and a similar number of reservists, plus an embryonic naval capacity, all of which are still in the process of formation – would have the strength to repel a determined invader. The most that could be expected is that they would be able to hold out long enough for help to arrive from outside.
