A Tug of War

 By Henry Srebrnik, [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian

Is the sun about to set on Britain’s control of the Chagos Islands? This archipelago of around 60 islands can be found halfway between East Africa and Southeast Asia. They are over 1,500 kilometres south of India, and even further from Mauritius, from which they were detached in 1965 from Mauritius.

The Chagos group is currently governed by London as the British Indian Ocean Territory, but most of the international community regards it as belonging to Mauritius.

Also at stake is the future of the indigenous population, the Chagossians, who were expelled from their homes in the 1960s and 1970s. For decades, Britain has blocked them from returning to their islands. For what reason? And why has this become the centre of a power struggle between the United States and China?

Mauritius remained a British colony until 1968, so Britain was able to remove the local population from the Chagos Archipelago, to make way for a major American military base on Diego Garcia. The 27 square kilometre atoll is Washington’s most important asset in the vast Indo-Pacific region west of Pearl Harbour.

Back then, Mauritius had no say in the fate of its remote island dependency, but now Mauritius demands their return. In 2019, the International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest court, ruled that the British occupation of the islands was unlawful. So last year, the United Kingdom set in motion negotiations with Mauritius over a handover of the Chagos Islands.

Washington doesn’t want to give away its crucial strategic asset on Diego Garcia, so it is currently bargaining with Mauritius over giving it a lease to the Archipelago.

And in a move that could dramatically inflame diplomatic tensions, China is courting Mauritius too. Beijing has been pouring investments into the country, developing its tourist infrastructure and buying friends and influence there.

China has long been extending its own sphere of influence in crucial trade routes through the South China Sea. Now Beijing is looking to secure its long-range routes through the Indian Ocean to the oil of the Middle East. By placing their own navy and bases in the region, their global trade will be more secure.

The U.S. fears that China might build a military base in the Chagos Archipelago once the islands have been returned to Mauritian control. One version of this argument is that Mauritius intends to eject the U.S. from Diego Garcia and invite China to fill its place. Another version is that China might militarize one of the other islands of the Chagos group. This all means that Mauritius could find itself at the centre of an aggressive bidding war between Washington and Beijing over the Chagos Islands.

Meanwhile, the Indian Ocean nation is working to attract Chinese tourists, historically a major market for the country, following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tourism is the third pillar of the country’s economy, accounting for eight per cent percent of the nation’s gross national product in 2022.

“The reopening of the Chinese borders will give a new glimpse of hope to the tourism industry,” asserted Arvind Bundhun, the director of the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority in April. “We are glad and ready to welcome Chinese tourists to Mauritius.”

Many Mauritians are of Chinese heritage, having arrived on the island between the 17th and 19th centuries, and Beijing hopes to play on their patriotic nostalgia.

Sino-Mauritians are heavily active in various spheres, from textiles to real estate to retail; their cultural footprint can be seen around the island in the form of traditional pagodas, active cultural associations, and the vibrant Chinatown in the capital, Port Louis. 

A Free Trade Agreement between Mauritius and China was signed in 2019 and entered into force on Jan. 1, 2021, the first that China has signed with a country in Africa. It will give Mauritius access to a huge market of some 1.4 billion inhabitants.