Third, East Timorese are the descendants of western Malays and Papuans. Taiwan's population predominantly consisted of the Han people even before the evacuation of the ROC to Taiwan in 1949. Therefore, the flight of people to Taiwan in 1949 hardly constituted a deliberate effort to assimilate the people on the island into Han-Chinese culture. In contrast, the Indonesian policy of large-scale transmigrations to East Timor beginning in 1975 was a deliberate effort to assimilate the East Timorese. The attempt was comparable with China's efforts in assimilating Tibet and East Turkestan.
Indonesian migrants make up most of the pro-unification forces in East Timor.
The relationship between East Timor and Indonesia bears an overwhelming resemblance to the relationship between Taiwan and China. If the international community acknowledges the legality and legitimacy of East Timor's choice of independence, then the holding of a referendum in Taiwan to decide the island's future would be equally legitimate and legal. China claims that the 1.2 billion people on the mainland should also vote in any referendum on Taiwan's future. However, in the 1995 referendum on the independence of Quebec from Canada only the people of Quebec participated. Only the people of East Timor voted in the referendum on East Timor's independence as well.