what is the british plan to conditionally hand over sovereignty of the chagos islands?
2024-10-04
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on october 3, local time, the governments of the united kingdom and mauritius issued a joint statement stating that the united kingdom agreed to transfer sovereignty over the chagos islands to mauritius.
the statement stated that mauritius can nowbeyond diego garciaresettlement programs are being carried out on other islands in the chagos archipelago.
regarding the uk’s agreement to transfer sovereignty of the chagos islands to mauritius,cui hong, professor at beijing foreign studies university’s institute for advanced studies in regional and global governancein an interview with a reporter from cctv global information broadcasting, jian zai said that this was due to factors such as general pressure from the international community and considerations of policy adjustments by the british labor party government.
the uk has long adopted a strategy of delay and cheating.but international pressure on the issue has grown in recent years.in a vote held by the united nations general assembly, the vast majority of countries called on the uk to return the chagos islands to mauritius as soon as possible.
during the conservative government, there was a plan within the british government to return the chagos islands to mauritius, that is, to return sovereignty in exchange for control of the military base on diego garcia.but it was opposed by the defense department of the conservative government.
cui hongjian:"so the agreement between the uk and mauritius is, on the one hand, a gesture to improve its image in the face of huge pressure from the international community, and on the other hand, it is also a gesture made by the labor government to break away from the conservative government's foreign policy."
according to the joint statement between the two parties, the united kingdom will continue to exercise sovereignty over diego garcia, the largest island in the chagos archipelago, for the next 99 years.
u.s. president joe biden welcomed the deal, saying it would ensure the strategically important diego garcia air base in the indian ocean operates effectively into the next century.
cui hongjian believes that the core of the agreement reached this time is to exchange sovereignty for control of military bases. behind this is the calculation of britain and the united states to safeguard their so-called "regional interests."
cui hongjian:"the chagos islands are geographically critical and play an important role in both the so-called regional strategy of the united states and the policies of the united kingdom. the british government's previous decisions were also largely interfered with and pressured by the united states. the agreement also reflects the importance that the united states and the united kingdom attach to continuing to control the military base on the diego garcia islands, viewing it as an important base for further intervention in asia-pacific affairs in the future.”
material source丨global information broadcasting "live world"
reporters丨chen lincong, chen meng, zhang han
editor丨zhu wanling
signing review丨li peng and zou haoyu
