In April 2019, Hunan Province established a friendship province relationship with the Municipality of Manatuto in Timor-Leste, becoming the only provincial-level friendship city pairing between China and Timor-Leste. In April 2025, Qingxi Village in Yiyang City, Hunan Province, reached a friendly-village agreement with Rembor Village in Timor-Leste.

Location of Municipality of Manatuto

Timor-Leste lies at the crossroads of Asia and Oceania, and the Pacific and Indian Oceans. As a key node of the Belt and Road Initiative, the country boasts unique resource endowments and a strong desire for cooperation, as well as substantial demands in various sectors such as infrastructure, agriculture, and light textiles. Manatuto, a northern coastal city sitting 64 kilometers east of Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, is known for its salt and tamarind. Xanana Gusmão, independence leader and former president of Timor-Leste, and current prime minister, was born here on June 20, 1946.

On September 9, 2023, Mao Weiming, deputy secretary of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and Governor of Hunan Province, and Bernardo Lopes, administrator of the Municipality of Manatuto, jointly unveiled a plaque for the cooperation and demonstration base for agriculture.

Hunan and Timor-Leste have cooperated in implementing a number of "small and beautiful" livelihood projects. The Manatuto (Hunan) Agricultural Industrial Park, as a key project under the friendship province relations, focuses on such fields as hybrid rice, specialty vegetables, and pig cultivation. The park has carried out in-depth cooperation in agricultural technology demonstration, training, and promotion, enabling Hunan's vegetables and fruits to grow vigorously in Timor-Leste. In September 2023, Governor Mao Weiming inspected the industrial park and unveiled the International Cooperation Demonstration Base for Agriculture between Hunan and Manatuto, boosting deeper and more solid cooperation between the two sides in hybrid rice, specialty vegetables, pig cultivation, among other projects.

On February 27, 2026, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão of Timor-Leste visited Manatuto to inspect the pig cultivation base and well construction project built with assistance from Hunan Province.

The Hunan-aid water well construction project. 

The infrastructure of the Hunan-aid pig cultivation project in Manatuto, Timor-Leste, has been completed and put into operation. Eight Hunan-aided water well projects across Timor-Leste now ensure safe drinking water supplies to over 2,000 local households and support agricultural irrigation, with more water wells planned for 2026. Experts in rice, corn, animal husbandry, soybeans, pig cultivation, and agricultural machinery have been dispatched to Manatuto for long-term agricultural technology demonstration, training, and promotion. 

Chinese source: Foreign Affairs Office of the Hunan Provincial People's Government