❓WHAT HAPPENED: The U.S. State Department has endorsed the British government’s moves to surrender the British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Islands) to Mauritius, an ally of China, despite President Donald J. Trump previously calling it an “act of great stupidity” and the fact that it hosts a major British-American base.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs and representatives from the U.S. interagency, along with Mauritius.
📍WHEN & WHERE: February 2026, U.S.-Mauritius talks set to take place in Port Louis, Mauritius.
💬KEY QUOTE: “The United States supports the decision of the United Kingdom to proceed with its agreement with Mauritius concerning the Chagos archipelago.” – U.S. State Department
🎯IMPACT: Britain will pay Mauritius large sums of money in order to continue leasing Diego Garcia, the Chagos island that hosts the British-American base, which it currently owns outright for free. However, Mauritius may undermine the base by leasing a neighboring island to China or altering the terms of the deal once its sovereignty is established.
The U.S. State Department has endorsed the British government’s moves to surrender the British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Islands) to Mauritius, an ally of China, despite President Donald J. Trump previously calling it an “act of great stupidity.” One of the islands, Diego Garcia, hosts a strategic British-American military base, and even though the British government intends to pay Mauritius huge sums to continue leasing it, it could be undermined if Mauritius leases a neighboring island to China or otherwise alters the deal once sovereignty is established.
“The United States supports the decision of the United Kingdom to proceed with its agreement with Mauritius concerning the Chagos archipelago,” the State Department said in a statement, announcing that “From February 23–25, the United States and Mauritius will hold discussions in Port Louis led by the Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, with participation from across the U.S. interagency.”
Last month, President Donald J. Trump said that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer “giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY,” as well as an “act of total weakness” that would embolden Russia and China. Longtime Trump ally and Reform Party leader Nigel Farage had lobbied the America First leader extensively on Chagos.
The circumstances surrounding the Chagos transfer are bizarre, with Britain effectively paying a country allied to an adversary nation to take its sovereign territory. Notably, Prime Minister Starmer’s negotiator on Chagos, Attorney General Richard Hermer, hates the British Empire and supports reparations, and worked alongside Philippe Sands, a British lawyer assisting Mauritius in its claims, for ten years. Sands is also a personal friend of Starmer.
Mauritius is more than 1,000 miles from Chagos, and has no Mauritian population, with the Chagossians—removed from the islands decades ago to make way for the Diego Garcia base—being near-universally opposed to the islands’ transfer to Mauritius.
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