The British government on Thursday announced it would return the Chagos Islands, a group of tiny atolls in the middle of the Indian Ocean, back to Mauritius — while retaining its joint military base with the US on Diego Garcia.
British Conservatives lambasted the agreement, with the man likely to become the new Tory leader, Robert Jenrick, describing it as “a dangerous capitulation that will hand our territory to an ally of Beijing.” Jenrick has his facts slightly wrong — Mauritius is not a formal ally of China — but the two countries do have growing economic ties, and the security concerns are real. American military air operations in the Middle East and South Asia depend on the base.
The UK will retain sovereignty of the base, pay Mauritius rent, and subsidize the resettlement of the Indigenous people on the islands. We’re watching how the change affects US and allied military posture, and whether the British public backs Starmer on the choice.