East Timor Bets Its Future On Massive Energy Project

Xanana Gusmao, former President of Timor-Leste, speaks to people in Dili, Timor-Leste, on Monday, Aug. 26, 2019. Twenty years on from a referendum that brought independence from Indonesia after a brutal quarter-century conflict killed an estimated 100,000 people, Timor-Lestes birthing pains are evident everywhere. With almost half its 1.2 million people living in poverty, the aging war heroes still in charge are now betting big on a risky energy project that could draw one of the worlds youngest nations into a wider geopolitical tussle between the West and China. Photographer: Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg via Getty Images