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Rep Mike Waltz, a former Green Beret, is now the ranking Republican on the House military readiness subcommittee
Plans by the U.K. to negotiate the handover of an Indian Ocean island chain to Mauritius could have ‘catastrophic’ consequences for American military power across a swath of the globe from East Africa to the continent of Asia, according to a senior Republican.
Rep. Mike Waltz on Monday wrote to the Pentagon and the State Department seeking assurances that any deal would not allow China to encroach on the vital U.S. base at Diego Garcia.
It is the largest island in the Chagos archipelago, which Mauritius says is unlawfully occupied by Britain.
‘We need two significant assurances,’ the most senior Republican on the House subcommittee on military readiness told DailyMail.com.
‘One, that the basing agreements there are ironclad and two that we’re not going to see the Chinese Communist Party move in and militarize an island in the Chagos, just like it has in the South China Sea.’
Diego Garcia is the biggest island in the Chagos Archipelago. Its position in the center of the Indian Ocean gives it a crucial strategic location and it is the site of a U.S. naval support facility, hosting nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers, and staging special operations forces
On Monday, Rep Mike Waltz wrote to the Pentagon and the State Department demanding assurances that a deal between the UK and Mauritius will not undermine the operations of the US base on Diego Garcia, in the heart of the Indian Ocean
In his letter he says the impact will be only more severe after the ‘Biden administration’s shortsighted blunder’ of abandoning Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan last year.
The British government insists any handover would include guarantees that the U.S. could continue using the facility on Diego Garcia.
But Waltz fears close ties between Mauritius and Beijing could allow Chinese forces to encroach on the U.S. base as they seeks to expand their footprint, just as it has in the South China Sea.
He demanded that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin keep Congress apprised of talks with Britain to safeguard Diego Garcia.
‘We’ve seen this movie before with the Chinese Communist Party. We’re seeing how aggressively they’re moving, for example, into the Solomons, where they’ve now entered into a pact for Chinese military police and perhaps to be able to reject any US basing or overflight,’ he said.
‘And that’s the fear with this negotiation with the Chagos islands and Mauritius in the United Kingdom.’
The negotiation seeks to right a decades long injustice.
The U.K. claimed the islands from France in the nineteenth century. But in the 1960s and 1970s it removed the local population to make way for a base on Diego Garcia.
Waltz is urging Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to work with the UK government to safeguard the base at Diego Garcia from Chinese expansion
In his letter to the secretaries of state and defense, Waltz warns that the loss of Diego Garcia would be ‘catastrophic’ after losing Bagram air base in Afghanistan last year
A USAF B-1B heavy bomber takes off from Diego Garcia on its way to Afghanistan in 2001
The residents have campaigned ever since for the right to return.
Three years ago, the International Court of Justice, the United Nation’s highest court, ruled that the British occupation of the islands was unlawful and that the archipelago was part of Mauritius.
Last month, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly announced that talks had begun to ‘secure an agreement on the basis of international law’ to resolve the dispute.
But critics point out that a deal would mean the West no longer has control over the chain of islands around Diego Garcia.
In the meantime, the base has been a vital refueling and supply depot, equipped to station long ranger bombers and to handle nuclear aircraft carriers and submarines, allowing them to operate on patrol almost indefinitely.
Waltz said it was important to understand the critical nature of the base.
‘It has been used in every major contingency operation from the Iranian Revolution, Desert Fox, Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan,’ he said.
‘it’s often described by both the Navy and the Air Force as the unsinkable aircraft carrier sitting in in the middle of the ocean.’
Losing Bagram, makes it only more crucial.
‘We must ensure that we do not repeat the Biden Administration’s shortsighted blunder of ignoring our generals’ recommendations and abandoning Bagram Air Base during the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces in Afghanistan,’ writes Waltz in his letter.
‘Bordering China and in the backyard of Russia and Iran, giving up Bagram took away a crucial American asset in the great power competition.
‘After losing this air base, officials from the Office of the Secretary of Defense assured me that the loss of Bagram could be mitigated by strategic assets operating with similar effect from Diego Garcia.
‘Conceding both of these critical assets would be catastrophic to deterring our adversaries in the Middle East and Indo-Pacific.’
Displaced Chagos Islanders have fought for years to return home. Most now live in Mauritius or the United Kingdom but won a victory in 2019 the United Nation’s highest court ruled that the British occupation of the islands was unlawful and that the archipelago was part of Mauritius
Last month the U.S. Navy said the USS West Virginia conducted a complete crew exchange in Diego Garcia, highlighting how it could stay on patrol for an extended period of time
Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia gives the US an ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’ in the Indian Ocean
Warplanes can be seen lined up at the base on Diego Garcia in this Google photo
Diego Garcia is a militarized atoll, just south of the Equator in the Indian Ocean.
As part of the British Indian Ocean Territory it is controlled by London, which has leased a military facility to the U.S. since 1966, when Washington was keen to extend its influence in the Indian Ocean at the height of the Cold War.
Its position – about 2200 miles east of the African coast of Tanzania and 1200 miles west of the southern tip of India – gives its heavy bombers access to a string of key maritime and military targets.
The base is about 2200 miles east of the African coast of Tanzania and 1200 miles west of the southern tip of India
The ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’ has been a vital asset during the Iranian Revolution (when rescue missions used it as a staging post), the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Operation Desert Fox in Iraq and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
It serves as a logistics and support base for naval vessels, warplanes and special forces.
Port facilities to accommodate air carriers were completed in 1985.
And an airfield was built four years later allowing the arrival of B52 Stratofortress bombers and aerial refuelling aircraft.
The atoll also hosts the United States Marine Pre-positioning Squadron Two, made up of seven vessels packed with tanks, armoured personnel carriers, munitions, fuel, spare parts and even a mobile field hospital for rapidly deployment to war zones.
Waltz’s intervention comes two weeks after British Members of Parliament demanded answers from ministers about how they planned to protect the base during negotiations.
Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski, called a parliamentary debate on the issue, and said the British government would be unable to prevent China doing a deal with Mauritius in future.
‘Even if we retain Diego Garcia, the other islands will be up for lease to the Chinese,’ he said.
He is working with Waltz to ensure that negotiations are scrutinized.
‘I have visited our military bases on Diego Garcia. I have spent days meeting with American officials on the islands; they briefed me and showed me around the naval vessels and installations,’ he said.
‘Having those huge military bases with the Chinese just a stone’s throw away from us on the other islands would be completely unacceptable.’
The Chagos Islands have been uninhabited since the U.K. removed its residents in order to lease a military base to the U.S. That could be about to change
In response, Foreign Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said the issue was central to negotiations about the future of the Chagos Islands.
‘We are alive to concerns about influence from malign actors in the Indian ocean,’ she said.
‘My right hon. friend the Foreign Secretary acknowledged these concerns when he gave evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 14 November.
‘He assured the committee that this is an issue we take very seriously and that we will ensure it is at the heart of our position during the sovereignty negotiations with Mauritius.’
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