ExclusiveUS Chagos talks confirmed amid concerns over China’s expanding naval ambitions

US President Donald Trump’s administration is holding regular high-level discussions with Britain to secure the long-term future of the strategically important Diego Garcia military base in the Indian Ocean, a US official has told the South China Morning Post. The confirmation comes amid reports that the White House is actively considering buying the Chagos Islands – host to a strategically important joint US-British military facility – amid concerns over China’s expanding naval ambitions in the Indo-Pacific. Britain agreed last year to transfer sovereignty of the Indian Ocean archipelago, including the Diego Garcia base, to Mauritius in an agreement that would allow continued British and American use of the facility. Without denying a potential purchase plan, the official described Diego Garcia as a “vital and indispensable military installation of significant importance” to US national security, saying “we remain in regular discussions with our British allies as we work together to preserve the viability” of the site as a “regional security platform”. The official added that Trump had been consistent in his position that Britain should not “give away the British Indian Ocean Territory, which includes our joint US-UK military facility on the Diego Garcia atoll”. The stance underscores Washington’s focus on retaining control of a strategic military foothold amid intensifying geopolitical competition in the Indian Ocean. Trump’s supporters have described the transfer agreement with Mauritius as a “gift to Beijing”. Diego Garcia has long served as a hub for US and British military operations in the Indian Ocean and Middle East, including support for missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and for counterterrorism efforts. In recent years, it has also been viewed as a key support for long-range strikes, surveillance, logistics and power projection against potential threats, including any moves by Beijing in an Indo-Pacific contingency, such as Taiwan. The US and Britain have jointly operated the base since the late 1960s, when London made a secret deal with Washington to carve out the Chagos Islands before Mauritian independence in 1968. Under the agreement, Britain retained sovereignty of the archipelago and granted the US rights to use the island for defence purposes. Between 1967 and 1973, the entire population of the Chagos Islands was forcibly removed to make way for the base. After decades of legal disputes over reparations for the displaced islanders and Mauritius’ unwavering claim to the territory, the International Court of Justice ruled in 2019 that Britain’s occupation of the Chagos Islands was illegal and should end. According to the treaty signed by Britain and Mauritius in May last year, London will pay about US$4 billion to lease Diego Garcia and its surrounding zone for at least 99 years, with unrestricted access and operations. At the time, British Defence Secretary John Healey said allies including the US, India, Australia, New Zealand and Canada supported the agreement, while China, Russia and Iran wanted “to see this deal collapse”. Trump initially supported the deal as the “best” achievable but later slammed it as “great stupidity” and a “total act of weakness” – based on strategic risk and Mauritius’ ties with China – leading Britain to pause ratification. Last week, The Telegraph reported that the US had approached the government of Mauritius with its own deal. On Monday, Mauritius issued a statement to say it had received no proposal from the Trump administration on the Chagos Islands. “Mauritius’s position remains unchanged: its sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago is non-negotiable,” it added. In a statement to the SCMP, China’s embassy in Washington said Beijing “firmly supports the United Nations decolonisation process and fully understands and supports Mauritius’s legitimate and reasonable claims on decolonisation”. This is not the first time Trump has considered buying or acquiring foreign territory for strategic reasons – he has repeatedly expressed an interest in purchasing Greenland from Denmark. He has also suggested that the United States should reclaim greater control over the Panama Canal, and floated the idea of Canada becoming the 51st US state.

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Washington in ‘active talks’ to secure Diego Garcia base as White House weighs options, including making an offer to Mauritius

Washington in ‘active talks’ to secure Diego Garcia base as White House weighs options, including making an offer to Mauritius