When did East Timor become independent?

East Timor officially became independent on May 20, 2002.

East Timor’s independence process:

The full name of East Timor is the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (English: Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste). It is an island country located at the eastern end of the Nusa Tenggara Islands, including The Oecusse region on the east and west north coast of the island of Timor, as well as the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaku on the eastern end. It is connected with Indonesian West Timor to the west and faces Australia across the Timor Sea to the south.

Before the 16th century, Timor Island was successively ruled by the Srivijaya Kingdom centered on Sumatra and the Majapahit Kingdom centered on Java. In the early 16th century, Portuguese colonists invaded Timor Island. In 1613, Dutch forces invaded and established a base in West Timor in 1618, pushing out Portuguese forces to the east. In the 18th century, British colonists briefly controlled West Timor. In 1816, the Netherlands resumed colonial status on the island of Timor. In 1859, Portugal and the Netherlands signed a treaty to repartition the island of Timor. The eastern part of Timor Island and Oecussi were returned to Portugal, and the western part was merged into the Dutch East Indies (today's Indonesia). Japan occupied East Timor in 1942. After World War II, Australia was once responsible for the administration of East Timor. Soon after, Portugal resumed its colonial rule over East Timor. In 1951, East Timor was changed to a Portuguese overseas province. In 1960, the 15th United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 1542, declaring East Timor and its affiliated territories as "non-autonomous territories" to be administered by Portugal.

In 1975, the Portuguese government allowed East Timor to hold a referendum and implement national self-determination. Afterwards, civil war broke out in East Timor. The East Timor Independent Revolutionary Front, which advocated independence, unilaterally declared the independence of East Timor on November 28, 1975, and established the East Timor Democracy* **Heguo. In December of the same year, Indonesia sent troops to East Timor. In 1976, it declared East Timor as the 27th province of Indonesia and was annexed by Indonesia. In December 1975, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution requiring Indonesia to withdraw its troops and calling on all countries to respect East Timor's territorial integrity and people's right to self-determination. Since then, the United Nations General Assembly has reviewed the East Timor issue many times. In 1982, the United Nations General Assembly voted to adopt a resolution supporting the self-determination of the East Timorese people. From 1983 to 1998, under the mediation of the United Nations Secretary-General, Portugal and the Indonesian government conducted more than ten rounds of negotiations on the East Timor issue. In 1998, the Suharto regime in Indonesia fell from power. In January 1999, Indonesian President Habibie agreed that East Timor should choose autonomy or break away from Indonesia through a referendum. On June 11, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution to establish the United Nations Mission in East Timor to host the East Timor referendum on August 30. Of the 450,000 registered voters in East Timor, approximately 440,000 voted, with 78.5% in favor of independence.

In November 1999, Timor-Leste established a National Consultative Committee with a quasi-cabinet and quasi-legislative nature. In July 2000, the first transitional cabinet was established. In August 2001, the Constituent Assembly election was held. On September 15 A Constituent Assembly and a second transitional cabinet were established, and a presidential election was held in April 2002. Xanana Gusmao, leader of the Eastern Independence Movement, was elected. On May 20, 2002, the Democratic Republic of East Timor was formally established. The Democratic Republic of East Timor is the first new country of this century.