The U.S. government put on a brave face and publicly welcomed the British decision to give away an archipelago of strategic islands this week, but Washington privately warned of the danger of China using them to establish listening stations, a report claims.
Britain’s newspaper of record The Times cites unnamed government sources to substantiate its claims that officials in Washington D.C. and London counselled the UK’s fledgling left-wing government against giving away the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), as was announced yesterday. The archipelago includes Diego Garcia, its largest island, a volcanic atoll upon which perches a strategically vital military base.
The base supports long-range bomber and surveillance aircraft, and passing Western warships. A British supply ship docked at the island just days ago. But the base is also understood to fulfil a crucial role as a listening station, gathering radio traffic and other intelligence from the nations and strategic waterways surrounding it.
The British government has rebuffed criticism of its handing away this chain of highly important islands, insisting Mauritius isn’t really as close to Beijing and claim there are safeguards in the deal to prevent Chinese encroachment, and stating the new agreement secures the base for at least 99 years. Yet as previously stated relies on agreements signed today being honoured for centuries hence, and China not using its debt-trap diplomacy Belt and Road programme against the Mauritius government, to whom the islands are being given.
After all, the United Kingdom has not had a great track record in having its agreements purportedly guaranteeing certain rights for former colonies in the recent past. China’s behaviour towards former British island Hong Kong, where the agreement guaranteeing norms was only supposed to last 50 years, not even close to the multiple centuries the BIOT deal is supposed to govern, shows what shaky ground this important military base is now on.
And indeed, it is leaving a back door open for China by signing away the sovereignty of these islands that the British government was reportedly warned about. The Times stated: “private warnings from the United States and concern among officials that doing so could hand China a strategic spying post”.
British civil servants are supposed to have “actively” warned the government on the same issue, saying by giving the islands away to a country under growing Chinese influence risks China establishing “listening posts on neighbouring islands”. The UK government denies the claims in The Times, stating there were never such discussions.
While there has been talks with Mauritius for years over the Chagos Islands, this week’s announcement took most by surprise, particularly given handing away British territory around the world was not even mentioned in the UK’s very recent general election. Nigel Farage MP noted this point when he stated on Friday: “Parliament must have a debate and a vote on the surrender of the Chagos Islands when it returns on Monday.
“No government should be able to surrender sovereignty without debate, especially as this was not in the Labour manifesto.”
Concerningly, the British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was asked directly on Friday whether he would be handing over any other territory, and did not give a meaningful answer in reply. Rupert Lowe MP, of Farage’s Reform UK Party, said: “Starmer must immediately guarantee that Labour will not surrender any other British overseas territories. I have asked the Foreign Office to urgently confirm this in writing.”