Fears Starmer deal won’t stop China building rival military base on Chagos Islands
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Revelation comes as minister insists that deal can be saved after Mauritius government demanded talks are reopened to get more concessions from UK. Keir Starmer’s proposed deal with Mauritius to hand over the Chagos Islands would not prevent China from building a rival base in another part of the archipelago, according to a written ministerial answer.
![[Luke Pollard answered a written question on Chagos]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/10/15/16/PA-77755704.jpg)
Fresh concerns about a further security risk to the joint UK/ US airbase on Diego Garcia came as foreign office (FCDO) minister Stephen Doughty doubled down on trying to get the PM’s handover deal agreed. Mr Doughty was responding to an urgent question from Tory shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel after the Mauritian prime minister Dr Navin Ramgoolam rejected the deal as “not good enough” and demanded talks were reopened.
Mr Ramgoolam said the draft deal "would not produce the benefits that the nation could expect" and negotiations had restarted. Shadow defence minister Mark Francois asked Labour if Mauritius “will have the right to allow basing on, occupancy of and access” to other Chagos islands.
The written question was asked because of ongoing concerns that China will use the change in sovereignty to take a key strategic position in the Indian Ocean and render the UK/US base on Diego Garcia unusable. Responding, defence minister Luke Pollard wrote: “Our primary goal throughout negotiations was to protect the joint UK/US military base on Diego Garcia, which plays a crucial role in regional and international security. The operation of the base will continue unchanged with strong protections from malign influence. For the first time in over 50 years the base will be undisputed and legally secure.
