Little-Known Chagos Islands at Center of International Fight

There is a good chance that you have never heard of Chagos Islands (or Chagos Archipelago), which is a 22 square mile group of islands in the Indian Ocean.

Chagos Islands is an enormously important place because it is home to a joint US/UK naval base. The Islands are in the middle of an important shipping channel, and the United States and United Kingdom will dock nuclear submarines on the island.

Chagos Islands sits just south of India and lie fairly close to China. For a number of reasons, the Chagos Islands naval base is of extreme importance to both the United States and United Kingdom.

In 1968, Mauritius gained their independence from the United Kingdom. Ever since, Mauritius has claimed Chagos Islands as their own.

In 2019, the International Court of Justice proclaimed that the United Kingdom "has an obligation to bring to an end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible".

In October of 2024, Britain announced that they would hand over Chagos Islands to Mauritius, subject to a deal being reached between the two sides, as Britain maintained that the naval base needs to remain operational.

The two sides quickly reached a preliminary deal, with Britain agreeing to lease the military base for a cost of roughly $11 billion over 99 years.

After winning re-election a few months ago, Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam demanded that the two sides re-negotiate the deal in order to account for inflation.

There are reports that the newly negotiated deal could cost the United Kingdom an estimated $22 billion over 99 years.

After President Trump was elected in November, the two sides agreed to delay the deal until the United States could weigh in.

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The United States is not happy with the proposed handover to Mauritius.

In one of his first calls after being sworn in, Secretary of State Marco Rubio brought up the issue with his United Kingdom counterpart.

Earlier this week, Senator John Kennedy brought up the issue in Congress, essentially calling the proposed handover ludicrous. After pointing out just why Chagos Islands was important to US interests, Kennedy said that the proposed deal was the result of the United Nations and leftists getting their ways at the cost of the security of the United States.

Senator Kennedy points out that China and Mauritius have very close ties, and this point is undeniable. In fact, Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Mauritius in February of 2009, and China has financed dozens of projects on the island.

Kennedy was straightforward - why would the United Kingdom handover an important strategic asset to a country that has very close ties to China?

Kennedy said that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom needs to "put down the bong" and stop this deal from going forward.

Filed under: General Knowledge