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US documents show approval for Indonesia's invasion of East Timor
The release of long-classified State Department documents in Washington show the United States offered full and direct approval to Indonesia's 1975 invasion of East Timor.
The documents prove conclusively, for the first time, that the United States gave a 'green light' to the invasion.
According to documents, collected by George Washington University's National Security Archive, General Suharto briefed US president Gerald Ford and his secretary of state Henry Kissinger on his plans for the former Portuguese colony hours before the invasion.
When Ford and Kissinger called in to Jakarta on their way back from a summit in Beijing on December 6, 1975, Suharto claimed that in the interests of Asia and regional stability, he had to bring stability to East Timor, to which Portugal was trying to grant autonomy.
Mr Kissinger has consistently rejected criticism of the Ford administration's conduct on East Timor.
The eastern part of the island of Timor was invaded by Jakarta in 1975 and annexed the following year.
7/12/01 21:48:03 | ABC Radio Australia News
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