AMERICARENEWING (Sumantra Maitra) - Primer: The Chagos Archipelago Is Key to Resisting China’s Encroachments in the Indian Ocean
The Chagos deal between the United Kingdom and Mauritius raises wider questions about sovereignty, international law, great-power competition, and the ability of democratic states to maintain strategic assets in an increasingly contested world. The post Primer: The Chagos Archipelago Is Key to Resisting China’s Encroachments in the Indian Ocean appeared first on The Center for Renewing America .
The status of the Chagos Archipelago, a small group of islands in the Indian Ocean, has recently become a newly relevant question of national security and defense strategy for both the United States and the United Kingdom. After Keir Starmer’s resignation as prime minister,1 his successor Andy Burnham has signaled a willingness to proceed with the plan of ceding the Chagos Archipelago in the British Indian Ocean Territory to the Republic of Mauritius.2 This would severely damage American power and influence in the Indian Ocean. The Chagos Islands were a part of the British Mauritius Crown Colony until a few years before Mauritius gained independence in 1968. Britain separated Chagos from Mauritius to maintain a strategically…Open