China’s boost in the Indian Ocean

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British media reports that Australia and the US are “livid” with the Starmer Labour government in London over its “giveaway” of a major military base in the middle of the Indian Ocean that is vital to Western interests are well-founded. The Albanese government, conscious of China’s military build-up, will understand what a boost the handover of Diego Garcia will be for China.

Diego Garcia, part of the Chagos Archipelago, is one of only two critical US bomber bases in the region. The other is Guam.

Diego Garcia, nicknamed the “Footprint of Freedom” and described as an “unsinkable aircraft carrier”, has for decades been critical to the US and its allies, including Australia. It has played a significant role in most major military operations by the US and its allies since 9/11. Over the years, it has been pivotal to interventions in Afghanistan and across the Middle East, including responses to Iranian aggression.

With its capacity to resupply heavy bombers and nuclear submarines, and gather intelligence, it has been described in a Lowy Institute analysis as critical in enabling US power projection into the Indian Ocean, Africa and the Middle East: “For Australia, Diego Garcia is a strategic asset available for military operations in the Indian Ocean and beyond. It anchors Australia’s presence in the Indian Ocean and provides a friendly port in the vastness of the region.’’

That has not stopped the UK Labour government from supinely caving in to pressure – including from far-left former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and the party’s Trotskyite wing – according to former US national security adviser John Bolton, to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago, centred on Diego Garcia, to Mauritius, 2000km away.

Prominent British commentator Charles Moore called the decision a “surrender” that will “have Xi Jinping rubbing his hands with glee”. The Times branded it a “fiasco”. As Mr Bolton wrote in The Wall Street Journal: “Given Beijing’s history of militarising comparable tiny landmasses in the South China Sea, the threat (from China, following the UK’s handover of Chagossian sovereignty to Mauritius) is clear.”

Mauritius, a Commonwealth nation, is under increasing Chinese influence. So is another Indian Ocean island nation, the Maldives, which recently expelled Indian troops based in the country as part of a drive against New Delhi’s influence. It now has a strongly pro-Chinese government in Male, the capital.

Beijing has been building what is known as Mr Xi’s “String of Pearls” across the Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific, which also includes Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan, as part of a drive by Beijing to isolate our Quad ally, pro-Western India, and expand Chinese strategic advantage over a vast ocean that is a critical theatre for global trade and geopolitical competition. The region carries more than a third of the world’s bulk cargo and two-thirds of the world’s oil shipments. Diego Garcia lies at its geographic epicentre.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy (in 2018 he described Donald Trump as “a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath”) has defended the handover, insisting that while sovereignty will be transferred to Mauritius, a 99-year-old lease will enable continued use of the base by the UK, US and their allies.

But as Roger Boyes wrote on Thursday, with Britain no longer policing the waters around the Chagos Archipelago, Chinese surveillance ships, no doubt disguised as fishing fleets, will be able to monitor the US long-range bombers stationed at the base: “A vital brick in the containment of China’s reach into the Indian Ocean has just been tugged out.’’