Sir Keir Starmer’s claim that China opposed his government’s decision to cede sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius has unravelled under the weight of Beijing’s own words.
In what can only be described as a diplomatic embarrassment for the Prime Minister, China has lauded the agreement as a “massive achievement” — a direct contradiction to Starmer’s suggestion that the Chagos handover was opposed by hostile states including Russia, Iran, and, crucially, China.
Huang Shifang, China’s ambassador to Mauritius, delivered a glowing endorsement of the deal, declaring her country’s “full support” for Mauritius’s sovereignty claim over the islands. She further announced that Mauritius would soon join the Belt and Road Initiative — Beijing’s flagship infrastructure and influence project — and pledged to deepen cooperation in finance, trade, and infrastructure.
It is an unequivocal statement of intent: China views the Chagos decision not as a setback to its regional ambitions, but as an opportunity to entrench its presence in the Indian Ocean.
This glowing endorsement from Beijing puts Starmer in an awkward position. Only days ago, he claimed at a press conference that those opposing the Chagos deal were “in a column” with Russia, China and Iran. “In favour are all of our allies,” he proclaimed, naming the US, NATO, Five Eyes, and India. But China’s statement now suggests that the Labour leader either misjudged the geopolitical reality — or deliberately misrepresented it.
Dame Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, wasted no time in seizing on the contradiction. “He claimed that those who opposed his mad plan to surrender the Chagos Islands were in league with hostile powers — whilst himself handing over control of our own sovereign territory to a nation firmly in China’s grasp,” she said. “And now China itself has welcomed the deal — knowing that Labour weakening our national security is at their benefit.”
At the heart of the dispute lies a centuries-old British Overseas Territory, a militarily strategic archipelago in the Indian Ocean. Under the terms of the new agreement, the UK has relinquished sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, with the exception of Diego Garcia — the heavily fortified US-UK military base, which remains under British control for 99 years under a lease agreement. British ministers insist that this carve-out preserves Western strategic interests while resolving a long-standing legal and diplomatic dispute.
Yet the geopolitical implications go beyond Diego Garcia. The surrounding islands may be uninhabited, but they are not insignificant. With China’s growing appetite for military and logistical outposts across the Indo-Pacific, the fear among critics is that this deal opens the door for Beijing to establish a firmer foothold near a key Western base. The pledge of Chinese investment — and the imminent accession of Mauritius to the Belt and Road — only deepens that concern.
Ministers have argued that the agreement ensures that no third country, including China, can build installations on the islands without British consent. But this assurance rests on shaky legal foundations. Sovereignty has been handed over. Influence, if not outright control, is now shared — and Mauritius, with deepening ties to Beijing, may one day be persuaded to reinterpret those terms to suit its new benefactor.
It is striking how quickly China has capitalised on the deal for its own strategic narrative. In backing Mauritius’s claim, Beijing aligns itself with international legal rulings while simultaneously undermining British post-imperial influence. And by praising the agreement, China casts itself as a champion of decolonisation and the rules-based order — a deeply cynical ploy, given its record in Tibet, Xinjiang and the South China Sea.
That Starmer did not anticipate this should alarm voters and allies alike. His attempt to frame the Chagos decision as a stand against hostile powers now appears not only hollow but counterproductive. He has handed China a propaganda victory, while alienating critics at home with accusations that now ring false.
Ultimately, this episode reveals a deeper flaw in Labour’s foreign policy instincts. In its haste to appear progressive and principled, the government has ceded strategic ground to adversaries cloaked in diplomatic flattery. The language of sovereignty and post-colonial justice may play well in left-wing circles, but it cannot obscure the hard reality of geopolitics.
Britain has lost a key piece of sovereign territory, at great cost — both financially, with a 99-year Diego Garcia lease running into billions, and strategically, by giving China a diplomatic win it did not earn. Starmer’s misrepresentation of the facts has only compounded the damage.
If this is the kind of global Britain Labour envisages, one must ask: whose interests is it really serving?
Main Image: Source: P.D. Goodrich/US NAVY [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
