Britain’s left-wing government announced a plan on Thursday to surrender sovereignty of a British Overseas Territory in the Indian Ocean that has hosted an important joint U.S.-UK military base and listening post for the past 50 years.
The United Kingdom is giving the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, from whom it bought the archipelago in the 1960s. The announcement is the latest development in years of sovereignty claims by Mauritius, now drifting into China’s sphere of influence, which until recently were not even recognised as legitimate by the UK or its allies.
Just last week, President of Mauritius Prithvirajsing Roopun barracked the United Kingdom at the United Nations General Assembly, saying: “We urge the United Kingdom to conclude expeditiously an agreement.”
The British Indian Ocean Territory (‘BIOT’), as the islands are presently called, apart from its very striking flag, is best known for hosting a strategically important military base on its largest island, Diego Garcia. The British had built an airbase operating against the Japanese on the island during the Second World War and U.S. Seabees build a new base in the 1970s to support long-range bombers and other aircraft. Beyond the military base, it is understood the island has also been used as a listening station to intercept radio traffic in the Indian Ocean and, possibly, as a “CIA black site.”
An aerial view of Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory (U.S. Navy photo/Released)
The announcement by the UK and Mauritius stated that the continued operation of the base is secured for an initial period of 99 years, assuming Mauritius keeps its word. The United Kingdom, of course, has not had good experiences in the recent past with promises exacted from new territorial masters of strategically valuable islands surrendered by choice in the Eastern hemisphere, but these lessons appear to have been put aside for expedience.
Indeed, a nakedly partial report on the surrendering of the islands to Mauritius from British state broadcaster the BBC — which hails the development as a “breakthrough” and a “historic” act of “decolonisation” — makes clear the political angling said to be hoped for by London with the move. It stated:
But the timing of this breakthrough reflects a growing sense of urgency in international affairs, not least regarding Ukraine, with the UK keen to remove the Chagos issue as an obstacle to winning more global support, particularly from African nations, with the prospect of a second Trump presidency looming.
Although the announcement comes early in the new left-wing administration of Britain’s Labour government, the negotiations to surrender BIOT are understood to have been going on for several years. The United Kingdom will be paying Mauritius for the privilege of being given a territory, encompassing “annual payments and infrastructure investments”.
A statement on the giveaway by Britain’s new top diplomat David Lammy, a gaffe-prone left-wing lawyer, implied the U.S. military base on Diego Garcia had somehow been under threat before the solution of giving away the land underneath it was struck upon.
“This government inherited a situation where the long-term, secure operation of the Diego Garcia military base was under threat, with contested sovereignty and ongoing legal challenges,” he said. “Today’s agreement secures this vital military base for the future.”
President Biden welcomed the announcement, saying in a statement of his own: “I applaud the historic agreement … This agreement affirms Mauritian sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, while granting the United Kingdom the authority to exercise the sovereign rights of Mauritius with respect to Diego Garcia.”
The UK’s Parliament is presently in recess for the political conference season, so there has not yet been an opportunity for the announcement to be debated in Westminster. The Friends of the British Overseas Territories, a Westminster-centric pressure group advocating for better understanding of the role and importance of these far-flung islands decried the development, called the handover a “betrayal” on Thursday.
“The handover of the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius is shameful news … This is a betrayal of regional security, self-determination and sovereignty of a territory which is legally British,” the group said in a statement.
Prominent British churchman the Reverend Marcus Walker asserted the risk of handing over the islands to the increasingly Beijing-friendly Mauritians. He remarked: “This is handing over an essential Western asset to an ally of China. Labour is actively betraying Britain’s interests now. This is far worse than I thought Keir Starmer could possibly be.”
Mauritius is a participant in China’s “Belt and Road” debt-trap diplomacy programme and Chinese state media celebrates the nations’ cultural and economic links.
