Bangkok: The hero of East Timor's independence, Xanana Gusmao, will continue to lead his country's sensitive negotiations over maritime boundaries with Australia despite his party losing office in the July elections.

For years Mr Gusmao has refused to budge on his insistence that gas from the still undeveloped Greater Sunrise field in the Timor Sea be piped across a 3000-metre seabed chasm, known as the Timor Trench, to East Timor.

Xanana Gusmao led the negotiations at The Hague. Credit:Pamela Martin

He insists that a maritime resources boundary between Australia and East Timor be shifted to put the $50-billion Greater Sunrise field entirely under East Timor's jurisdiction.

A three-party coalition that will form government in Dili confirmed Mr Gusmao's authority to represent East Timor in negotiations being supervised by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague.