- U.S. senator introduces bill to block Diego Garcia sovereignty transfer
- Legislation requires Senate approval for changes to 1966 US-UK treaty
- Proposal follows UK plan to cede Chagos Islands to Mauritius
- Diego Garcia hosts key joint U.S.-UK military base in Indian Ocean
The U.S. senator proposed a bill to prevent any surrender of sovereignty of the Chagos Islands such as the Diego Garcia military base, which is a strategic location, without an explicit sanction of the U.S. Senate to the changes in a long-term defence treaty between Washington and London.
The proposed bill, the Diego Garcia Treaty Oversight Act, was introduced by Senator John Kennedy (A Republican member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a member of the Louisiana republic) to guarantee congressional oversight on any changes that might be made on the 1966 treaty governing the British Indian Ocean Territory.
"When two countries shake hands on a treaty, one of them can't start changing the terms without the other country agreeing to it. That's just common sense," Senator John Kennedy said while announcing the legislation.
The act is in the backdrop of concerns in Washington regarding the maneuver by the United Kingdom to hand over the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The archipelago integrates Diego Garcia, a significant joint U.S.-U.K. naval and air support station that can be considered one of the most vital military bases of the U.S in the Indian Ocean.
"When two nations are shaking hands on a treaty one of them cannot initiate the process of altering the terms without the consent of the other country. It is pure common sense and that is what the bill is all about," Kennedy said in a statement with the bill.
"That is why I object to the United Kingdom attempting to hand our joint military base on Diego Garcia over to one of the cronies of Xi Jinping -- all without consulting the Senate of the United States. My bill would ensure that our friends in the UK do not amend our treaty and pass this gift over to China without seeking the input of the Senate," he said.
Bill Strives To make Senate Treaty Amendments
The proposed law, would mean that any amendment to the 1966 defense pact between the United States and the United Kingdom had to be formally approved by the U.S Senate before it became effective.
The measure would also restrict the federal agencies not to use money to effect some amendments in the treaties unless the senate has given its approval. The proponents of the bill in congress believe that the passage of the bill requires congressional approval to protect the U.S. strategic interests that are attached to the Diego Garcia base.
The bill would also have made the U.S. president present a detailed report to the Congress prior to negotiations on any amendments to be made on the treaty structure.
The report is to state the national security justification of the change, estimate the potential impacts on the U.S. operational control of Diego Garcia, and measure the risk of third-party sovereignty claims or the threat of a foreign military presence in the area, as per the requirements suggested.
Kennedy has also expressed several times regarding the intended transfer of the Chagos Islands claiming that any change of sovereignty would complicate the access of the American base.
The senator has also been on the forefront in congress requesting the administration to protest the proposed arrangement. In one of the past letters, Kennedy, as well as other Senator, petitioned the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio and Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to make sure that the U.S. has safe access to operational base.
Diego Garcia's Strategic Role
The island of Diego Garcia is the largest Island in the Chagos archipelago and is home to a large American-British military base which is a major logistical and operations base of the American forces in the Indian Ocean.
The base has been serving U.S. military activities in the Middle East, Africa and some parts of the Indo-Pacific region. The United States has been able to engage in the long-range air operations, enable naval operations and have a presence in the key strategic places throughout major shipping lanes because of its geographic location.
"Diego Garcia remains one of the United States' most strategically important bases because it allows the U.S. military to project power across the Middle East, East Africa and the Indo-Pacific," said Gregory Poling, senior fellow for Southeast Asia and director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
According to the military experts, the location of the facility offers military access to a wide region of the Indian Ocean, which defines it as a base of the U.S. security structure in the region.
The installation has been deployed to assist in various operations such as the logistics support, intelligence operations and the long range bombers.
On Chaos Sovereignty Dispute
The Chagos Islands dispute is a result of an old-time sovereignty conflict between the United Kingdom and Mauritius.
In 1965, three years before Mauritius became an independent state, Britain split the archipelago and Mauritius. The islands were subsequently declared the British Indian Ocean Territory and some of them leased to the United States to use as a military base.
The islands have long been a cause of sovereignty by Mauritius which has been demanding its reversion by legal and diplomatic means.
International legal decisions and diplomatic talks have raised the issue of sovereignty and heaped more pressure on Britain to re-evaluate its rule of the territory.
The pending bill in the Washington state reflects on the increasing anxieties of the U.S congress regarding the impact that any future sovereignty deal will have on the functionality of the Diego Garcia military base and overall strategic interests in the Indian Ocean region.
