Few would have imagined that America’s backyard could be as far away as ten thousand miles away. But in a sudden shift of attention President Donald Trump turned to Diego Garcia, Mauritius and the Chagos Islands and for two reasons, the first of which he was quite direct about. 

“Shockingly, our brilliant Nato ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital US military base, to Mauritius… It is an act of great stupidity, and is another in a very long line of national security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired,” President Trump posted on his social media site. The second rationale that is distant but far more disturbing is that of the United States wanting Chagos Islands, something that would rattle all Indian Ocean states.  

In May 2024 Britain, after long negotiations, agreed to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius but control over the British-American base of Diego Garcia would be retained for 99 years at a payment of about US$ 100 million annually. At the time Washington hailed the accord as a “monumental achievement” and during a White House visit last February the British Prime Minister was apparently given to understand that the United States backed the accord. But between 2024 and now, the priorities of the Trump White House have changed, the President now determined to get Greenland “the easy way or the hard way,” stressing that Moscow and Beijing were keen on expanding their presence in the Arctic. 

Russia and China have once again emerged as the primary reason for President Trump to hammer away at Britan over Chagos Islands. “There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness. These are international powers who only recognise strength, which is why the US, under my leadership, is now, after only one year, respected like never before,” President Trump has said. In 1968 Britain purchased the Chagos Islands from Mauritius for Three Million Pounds; and Washington was allowed to use Diego Garcia for defence purposes; and the base houses an estimated 2500 American service personnel. 

President Trump is not off the mark in talking about the importance of Diego Garcia. Aside from sitting at a critical international trade intersection between Asia and Africa, the base has played a critical role to sustain American military operations in the Middle East and Asia, not necessarily confined to the Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan, possibly even Iran. And the American leader is also on target as far as China’s interests, as Beijing is known to be fishing in the troubled waters of the Indian Ocean. But what will become troublesome is not the Greenland- Mauritius linkage, but even in a hint that the United States has set its eyes on Chagos Islands per se. 

In the case of Greenland, some analysts have maintained that the 1951 Treaty between Denmark and the United States gives Washington the latitude to do anything it wants in its military bases with any “annexation” serve little to no purpose. And if Russian and Chinese military are on the prowl in the glaciers of the Arctic, it is not a recent phenomenon. Also Washington has been keeping a close watch on the activities and intentions of Beijing in the Arctic dating back to the first Trump administration and of a concern that increased influence risked a “new South China Sea” in the north Pole. 

In the present context Official China has expressed its opposition to attempts by the United States to undermine the charter of the United Nations and urging Washington to refrain from using the “co-called China threat” in Greenland to impose tariffs on European countries. And after a studious silence on the issue, the Kremlin has come out denying suggestions that Russia and China have any interests to threaten the Arctic. But Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent comments must be music to President Trump’s ears when he said that Denmark’s control over Greenland was a vestige of the colonial era. “In principle, Greenland isn’t a natural part of Denmark,” the top Russian diplomat has been quoted. 

Even as it is there is a lot of discomfort in Europe over President Trump’s persistent comments on Greenland and in his threats to take over that Arctic Island by force. In fact some are already speculating that the 1500 troops meant to take care of domestic turbulence in Minnesota are actually special forces trained for Arctic heading the way of Greenland. 

And Denmark and Greenland are supposedly making preparations for any military eventuality. And European leaders, aside from being dismayed at the turn of events including over Diego Garcia and the Chagos Islands, are looking at ways to defuse a potentially explosive situation that would doom the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

Forgetting for a minute the global implications for a break up of the NATO, there is no question that celebrations would be the order of the day in Russia and China that had always seen the 77-year old organisation as a threat to their existence. But the bigger challenge to the United States is in actually seeing an uptick of the influence of Moscow and Beijing in global affairs; and not necessarily in its backyard. 

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this article/column are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of South Asian Herald.

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