National Defense

Brits Want To Hand Our Joint Base To Friend Of Beijing, But The US Reportedly Has Its Own Plans

Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok

The U.K. government is considering the transfer of a key strategic outpost sitting in the middle of the Indian Ocean to Mauritius, an island nation with deep Chinese ties, as the Trump administration reportedly considers purchasing the territory.

Downing Street is contemplating the possibility of giving the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, even though it contains a joint U.K.-U.S. military base, Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia. China has close economic ties to the island nation through the Mauritius-China Free Trade Agreement, according to the Mauritius Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The South China Morning Post claimed the Trump administration was attempting to buy the islands, but Reuters reported that Mauritius hasn’t received any proposal from the U.S. government. The British government has paused the deal in response to opposition from President Donald Trump.

“China has long invested in its relationships and presence (economic, people) in Mauritius, an island nation to which the current UK government would like to cede the Chagos Islands [in the British Indian Ocean Territory],” naval warfare and advanced technology expert at the Heritage Foundation, Brent Sadler, told the DCNF. “There is [ample] evidence to indicate that Mauritius would not act to protect the operational viability of Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands against Chinese interference.”

“As a general matter, we do not comment on private diplomatic conversations,” the State Department told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The country was the first African nation to sign a bilateral free-trade agreement with China, formally cementing its relationship with Beijing in 2019.

“[Mauritius] recently denied Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s aircraft permission to transit through its airspace, giving a sense of how close it is to Beijing,” Indo-Pacific expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Cleo Paskal, told the DCNF. “If Mauritius gets the archipelago, [it] is also likely to grant [access to the] Chinese ‘fishing fleet’ and ‘research vessel’ fleet … very possibly followed by Chinese ‘tourism development’.”

Taiwan’s president cancelled a trip to Eswatini, a small nation in southern Africa, after Mauritania and other African countries revoked flight permits, Reuters first reported.

The U.K. Embassy in Washington, the Mauritius Embassy in Washington and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command did not respond to a request for comment.

‘Diego Garcia Has Seen Significant Action’

The U.S. government remains adamant that the Chagos Islands are vital to U.S. national security.

“President Trump has been consistent in his position that the United Kingdom should not give away the British Indian Ocean Territory, which includes our joint U.S.-UK military facility on the Diego Garcia atoll,” a U.S. official told the DCNF. “Diego Garcia’s strategic location in the Indian Ocean makes it a vital and indispensable military installation of significant importance to the national security of the United States.”

The Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia is a key military installation for the U.S. military located in the British Indian Ocean Territory on the Diego Garcia Atoll. The island contains a vital airstrip over 12,000 feet long, big enough to accommodate U.S. tankers, cargo aircraft and B-52 bombers, according to Naval History and Heritage Command.

“Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia plays a vital role in supporting forward-deployed operational forces and advancing security across the region,” a Department of War Official told the DCNF. “It is critical that the United States retains unimpeded access to this facility.”

“It has strategic value and cannot be easily replaced,” Sadler told the DCNF.

The airstrip on Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia has seen significant action throughout wars in the Middle East. Strikes were launched from the base during the Persian Gulf War, the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War, according to the U.S. Air Force.

The island was targeted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps during the Iran War with two ballistic missiles, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity on March 31. Neither missile reached the island, as one was shot down and another failed to reach the target, according to the interview.

The issue of the British Indian Ocean Territory has caused a stir among the indigenous Afro-Asian Chagossians community in the U.K. and among the U.K. government at large, Paskal said.

“There are serious questions about how, and why, the transfer of the archipelago to Mauritius was pushed by the Starmer government in the first place, including questions about conflicts of interest of key players on the UK side,” Paskal told the DCNF. “It is questionable if, once Starmer goes, there will be a similar high-level UK push to pay Mauritius to take control over such an important and sensitive area – a concept that is strategic nincompoopery, at best.

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer is currently facing severe criticism within his own borders. Roughly 69% of adult Britons view Starmer unfavorably, according to a YouGov poll from May 13.

Despite the ongoing discussion in the U.K., the U.S. government remains committed to the preservation of the U.S. military’s access to the atoll.

“We remain in regular discussions with our British allies as we work together to preserve the viability of Diego Garcia as a regional security platform,” a U.S. official told the DCNF.

Legislation pertaining to the deal in the U.K. government is currently frozen. The “bill will make no further progress,” according to the U.K. Parliament.

The people of the British Indian Ocean Territory should be granted the right to self-determination, Paskal told the DCNF.

“The way forward is to ignore the spurious claims of Mauritius and replicate how the US the people of the Central Pacific moved on from the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands – by giving those directly involved a vote,” Paskal told the DCNF. “In this case that means a referendum for Chagossians offering them options that include staying part of the UK or perhaps becoming a US territory … That result would be more legally, morally and strategically sound and stable – and cheaper – than any attempt to ‘buy’ the archipelago.”