[ENG-TET]
PRESS RELEASE
TEAM CHINA LANDS IN DILI AS 2026 DILI INTERNATIONAL MARATHON WELCOMES FIRST ASEAN+ ARRIVAL WAVE
DILI, Timor-Leste – 5 August 2026
Two members of China’s national distance squad, Bangliu Zhang and Jiali Wang, touched down in the capital Dili on Wednesday 5 August aboard an Aero Dili direct service from Xiamen, mainland China, the national flag carrier’s pioneering scheduled route to the Chinese mainland, becoming the first ASEAN+ elite athletes to arrive for Saturday morning’s race start.
Their arrival demonstrates the strength of the bond between the two nations at the heart of a year in which the China–Timor-Leste friendship is being read as on the road, on the broadcast, and in the diplomatic quiet of a partnership that is now nearly a quarter-century old and growing steadily deeper.
The China–Timor-Leste story is older than most people give it credit for. Long before Portuguese caravels anchored at Lifau in the early modern period, Chinese merchants were already trading through the archipelago. Sandalwood from Timor’s high country was prized at Ming-dynasty courts for incense, medicine and luxury crafts, and the route it travelled is one of the earliest documented eastward exchanges through what is now Timor-Leste. The historical record places Chinese traders alongside Portuguese counterparts in Timor’s sandalwood economy from the Malacca period onward — an exchange, not a conquest, and one that quietly tied these two shores together for centuries before any formal flag flew.
That older, trader-built familiarity is the quiet ancestor of the diplomatic partnership the two countries signed into a new phase in Hangzhou on 23 September 2023, when Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão and President Xi Jinping elevated bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Since then, the relationship has thickened visibly: a Belt and Road cooperation plan signed in 2024 has opened channels for trade and infrastructure, China grants zero-tariff treatment on 98 percent of Timor-Leste’s tariff lines, and Chinese medical teams have served continuously in Timor-Leste — through the Peace Ark hospital ship’s Mission Harmony visits and through construction of the China–Timor-Leste Friendship Hospital. Beijing has publicly endorsed Dili’s bid to join ASEAN, a position that matters directly to how the 2026 race week unfolds on the ground.
The race’s 2026 theme — “Love Our Forests and Wildlife — Hadomi Ita Nia Ai-Laran no Balada Fuik Sira” — sits cleanly inside the same development story. China’s Belt and Road cooperation plan with Timor-Leste explicitly identifies infrastructure development, industry revitalisation, food self-sufficiency and livelihood improvement as the four pillars of joint work.
The race week at hand is a small but legible demonstration of those pillars in practice: infrastructure cooperation on the national grid, ports and bridges; industry — Timor-Leste coffee destined for Chinese shelves, fishery cooperation in motion; livelihood — a Friendship Hospital treating Timorese patients and a steady stream of medical scholarships; and cultural exchange — runners sharing a start line, broadcast feeds piped live back into both markets, with sister-city conversations between Macao and Dili progressing under a Hunan–Manatuto friendship-province relationship already in motion. The 2026 Dili International Marathon, in short, is not a sporting detachment from the development story — it is one of its most visible expressions.
The 2026 edition introduces and expands an ASEAN+ elite category to sit alongside the Timorese open category. Where the Timorese category celebrates the depth of the home squad, ASEAN+ opens the prize table to runners from across the region and its close partners — all ASEAN member nations plus China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Among this year’s ASEAN+ entries are two People’s Republic of China national-squad athletes, Bangliu Zhang and Jiali Wang, who will contest the distance from the start line until the finish, with races starting at 5:30 am.
Sean Borrell Event Director of this years event announced “Team China’s arrival today is about more than two runners on a plane from Xiamen. Sandalwood traders were crossing the China Sea to Timor’s coast centuries before either of our nations’ flags were formally raised here — that’s a longer story than most people realise, and it makes the moment on Saturday morning feel like an old friendship being read aloud again. The 2026 theme — Love Our Forests and Wildlife — speaks to how this country wants to grow: with care for what is natural, with investment that respects the place, with cultural exchange that leaves both sides richer. China and Timor-Leste have been walking exactly that road together since the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership was signed in Hangzhou, and with Belt and Road, the Friendship Hospital, the Hunan–Manatuto friendship-province link and the Macao–Dili sister-city conversation all in motion, race week is the visible part of a much bigger journey.”. MR Borrell concluded by welcoming Team China to Dili in the spirit of sporting excellence and friendly competition: ”Bemvindu to Dili, Team China. The forests, the wildlife and our two nations’ long road together are all the better for your presence.”
About the Dili International Marathon
The Dili International Marathon is Timor-Leste’s flagship mass-participation road race, organised annually around the country’s national independence commemorations. The 2026 edition runs 4 — 8 August, with the full Marathon (42.195 km), Half-Marathon (21.1 km), 10 km Para-Athletes, and 5 km Fun Run contested across the weekend in categories covering Timorese open, ASEAN+ open, and Para-Athletes. Total 2026 prize fund: USD $75,000. Coverage is carried live on terrestrial broadcast and online by RTTL (Rádio e Televisão de Timor-Leste).
Course and all other information is available at: www.dilimarathon.tl
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KOMUNIKADU IMPRENSA
EKIPA XINA TO’O ONA IHA DILI BAINHIRA MARATONA INTERNASIONÁL DILI 2026 SIMU GRUPU PRIMEIRU HUSI ASEAN+
DILI, Timor-Leste – 5 Agostu 2026
Membru na’in-rua husi ekipa nasionál distánsia naruk Xina nian, Bangliu Zhang no Jiali Wang, to’o ona iha kapitál Dili ohin, Kuarta-feira, 5 Agostu, liuhusi voo direta Aero Dili nian husi Xiamen, Xina kontinentál. Ida-ne’e mak rota regulár pioneira husi kompañia aviasaun nasionál ne’e ba kontinente Xina, ne’ebé halo sira sai atleta elite ASEAN+ primeiru ne’ebé to’o ba korrida iha Sabadu dadeer nian.
Sira-nia to’o hodi hatudu kbiit husi amizade entre nasaun rua ne’e, iha tinan ne’ebé amizade Xina–Timor-Leste hatudu aan iha estrada halai-taru nian, iha transmisaun, no iha silénsiu diplomátiku husi parseria ida-ne’ebé agora besik ona tinan ruanulu-resin-lima no kontinua kle’an ba beibeik.
Istória Xina–Timor-Leste tuan liu fali saida mak ema barak hanoin. Tempu naruk molok ró-karavela portugés sira hakat ba Lifau iha inísiu períodu modernu, komersiante xinés sira halo ona komérsiu liuhusi arkipélagu ne’e. Ai-kameli (sandalwood) husi foho Timor nian hetan folin aas iha ukun dinastia Ming nian ba insensu, ai-moruk no artezanatu luxu, no rota ne’ebé sira liu mak ida husi interkámbiu ba lorosa’e ne’ebé rejistadu uluk liu liuhusi fatin ne’ebé agora bolu Timor-Leste. Rejistu istóriku tau komersiante xinés sira hamutuk ho sira-nia parseiru portugés sira iha ekonomia ai-kameli Timor nian husi períodu Malaka ba oin — interkámbiu ida, la’ós konkista, no ida-ne’ebé ho nonook kesi tasi-ibun rua ne’e hamutuk ba sékulu barak molok bandeira ofisiál ruma hasa’e.
Familiaridade tuan ne’ebé harii husi komersiante sira-ne’e mak bei’ala silensiozu husi parseria diplomátika ne’ebé nasaun rua ne’e asina hodi tama ba faze foun iha Hangzhou iha loron 23 Setembru 2023, bainhira Primeiru-Ministru Xanana Gusmão no Prezidente Xi Jinping foti relasaun bilaterál ba Parseria Estratéjika Abranjente (Comprehensive Strategic Partnership). Husi tempu ne’ebá, relasaun ne’e sai metin no vizivel liu: planu kooperasaun Belt and Road (Faixa e Rota) ne’ebé asina iha 2024 loke ona dalan ba komérsiu no infraestrutura, Xina fó tratamentu tarifa-zero ba pursentu 98 husi liña tarifa Timor-Leste nian, no ekipa médiku xinés sira serbí beibeik iha Timor-Leste — liuhusi vizita Misaun Harmonia husi ró-ospitál Peace Ark no liuhusi konstrusaun Ospitál Amizade Xina–Timor-Leste. Beijin mós fó apoiu públiku ba pedidu Dili nian atu tama ba ASEAN, pozisaun ida-ne’ebé fó implikasaun diretu ba oinsá semana korrida 2026 nian sei la’o iha terrenu.
Tema korrida 2026 nian — “Hadomi Ita-nia Ai-Laran no Balada Fuik Sira” — tuur ho loloos iha istória dezenvolvimentu ne’ebé hanesan. Planu kooperasaun Belt and Road Xina nian ho Timor-Leste ho esplísitu identifika dezenvolvimentu infraestrutura, revitalizasaun indústria, auto-sufisiénsia ai-han no hadi’a moris nu’udar pilár haat husi serbisu konjuntu.
Semana korrida ne’ebé la’o daudaun mak demonstrasaun ki’ik maibé klaru husi pilár sira-ne’e iha prátika: kooperasaun infraestrutura iha rede nasionál eletrikidade, portu no ponte sira; indústria — kafé Timor-Leste nian destinadu ba merkadu Xina, kooperasaun peskas la’o daudaun; moris di’ak liu tan — Ospitál Amizade kura pasiente timoroan sira no fluxu kontínuu husi bolsa de estudu médiku; no interkámbiu kulturál — korredór sira fahe liña hahú, transmisaun direita lori fali ba merkadu rua ne’e, ho konversa sidade-jemina (sister-city) entre Makau no Dili ne’ebé avansa daudaun iha relasaun provínsia-amizade Hunan–Manatuto ne’ebé la’o hela. Maratona Internasionál Dili 2026, tuir loloos, la’ós de’it eventu desportivu ida ne’ebé ketak husi istória dezenvolvimentu nian — nia mak espresaun ida ne’ebé vizivel liu.
Edisaun 2026 introdús no espande kategoria elite ASEAN+ hodi tuur hamutuk ho kategoria nakloke timoroan nian. Bainhira kategoria timoroan selebra kbiit husi ekipa uma-laran, ASEAN+ loke meza prémiu nian ba korredór sira husi rejiaun no ninia parseiru besik sira — nasaun membru ASEAN hotu hamutuk ho Xina, Japaun, Koreia Súl, Austrália no Nova Zelándia. Iha partisipante ASEAN+ tinan ne’e nian mak atleta na’in-rua husi ekipa nasionál Repúblika Populár Xina, Bangliu Zhang no Jiali Wang, ne’ebé sei kompete iha distánsia husi liña hahú to’o liña xegada, ho korrida ne’ebé hahú iha tuku 5:30 dadeer.
Sean Borrell, Diretór Eventu ba edisaun tinan ida-ne’e anunsiu, “Ekipa Xina nia to’o ohin loron lori signifikadu boot liu fali korredór na’in-rua iha aviaun laran husi Xiamen. Komersiante ai-kameli sira hakat Tasi Xina ba tasi-ibun Timor nian sékulu barak molok ita-nia nasaun rua nia bandeira hasa’e ofisialmente iha ne’e — ne’e mak istória ne’ebé naruk liu fali saida mak ema barak imajina, no ida-ne’e halo momentu iha Sabadu dadeer sente hanesan amizade tuan ida ne’ebé ita lee fali ho lian maka’as. Tema 2026 nian — Hadomi Ita-nia Ai-Laran no Balada Fuik Sira — ko’alia kona-ba oinsá nasaun ne’e hakarak buras: ho kuidadu ba buat ne’ebé naturál, ho investimentu ne’ebé respeita fatin ne’e, ho interkámbiu kulturál ne’ebé halo parte rua ne’e sai riku liu. Xina no Timor-Leste la’o daudaun iha dalan ne’e loloos hamutuk dezde Parseria Estratéjika Abranjente asina iha Hangzhou, no ho Belt and Road, Ospitál Amizade, ligasaun provínsia-amizade Hunan–Manatuto no konverzasaun sidade-jemina Makau–Dili hotu la’o daudaun, semana korrida mak parte vizivel husi viajen ne’ebé boot liu.” Sr. Borrell konklui hodi simu Ekipa Xina iha Dili ho espíritu eselénsia desportiva no kompetisaun amigável: “Bem-vindu ba Dili, Ekipa Xina. Floresta, vida animál fuik no dalan naruk ita-nia nasaun rua nian hamutuk sai di’ak liu tan ho imi-nia prezensa.”
Kona-ba Maratona Internasionál Dili
Maratona Internasionál Dili mak eventu halai-taru iha estrada ho partisipasaun masiva ne’ebé sai nu’udar eventu prinsipál Timor-Leste nian, organizadu anualmente besik ba komemorasaun independénsia nasionál nasaun nian. Edisaun 2026 hala’o husi 4 — 8 Agostu, ho Maratona (42.195 km), Meia-Maratona (21.1 km), 10 km ba Para-Atleta, no Fun Run 5 km ne’ebé kompete iha fin-de-semana ne’e iha kategoria nakloke ba Timoroan, ASEAN+ no Para-Atleta. Totál fundu prémiu 2026: USD $75,000. Kobertura transmitidu direita iha televizaun terestre no online husi RTTL (Rádio e Televisão de Timor-Leste).
Informasaun kona-ba ruta no seluk tan bele asesu iha: www.dilimarathon.tl
REMATA//