Trump's win could jeopardize UK's agreement over Chagos Islands

The British government looks headed for a major clash with Donald Trump after ceding control of the Chagos Islands, home of a crucial U.S. military base, to Mauritius, News.Az reports citing Politico .

U.S. President-elect Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, Mark Rubio, told POLITICO last month that he fears the deal would boost China and warned the agreement poses “a serious threat” to U.S. national security. The Independent reported Wednesday that Trump's new team could even try to veto the deal.

Back home, the British government is under mounting pressure from Trump allies and China hawks about the handover, which it has defended as respecting international law and ending a decades-long injustice.

The U.K. agreed to pass sovereignty of the disputed Chagos Islands to Mauritius last month in an agreement hailed as a “seminal moment" by the government in London.

The islands, sometimes dubbed Britain's last African colony, are home to a joint U.S. and U.K. military base in the Indian Ocean.

Mauritius' government has long argued it was forced to give the Chagos Islands away in return for its own independence from Britain in 1968. More than 1,000 islanders were forcibly removed at the request of the U.S., with some repeatedly taking the U.K. government to court.

Under the deal, Diego Garcia, the island home to the joint military base, will remain under U.K. and U.S. jurisdiction for at least the next 99 years.

The agreement came after a 2019 advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, which adjudicates on disputes between nations and said the U.K. was “under an obligation to bring to an end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible.”

Alex Gray, former deputy assistant to Trump and ex-chief of staff of the White House National Security Council, said he would not be surprised to see a clash between the U.S. and the U.K. on the deal.

“I think that's a big concern,” he warned.
But critics in the U.K. and U.S. argue Britain was under no obligation to respect the advisory opinion, and charge that the government has committed a major tactical blunder that will only embolden China.

Speaking last month before the U.S. election, Florida Senator Rubio said the deal was “concerning as it would provide an opportunity for communist China to gain valuable intelligence on our naval support facility in Mauritius.”

He added: “This poses a serious threat to our national security interests in the Indian Ocean and threatens critical U.S. military posture in the region.”

News.Az