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Sir Kerr Starmer will try next week to sell the controversial Shaghos Islands deal to US President Donald Trump, amid an increasing dispute over the logical basis of an agreement that affects the American and state military base in Diego Garcia.
British officials claim that criticizing the deal depends on “wild speculation” and insists on the presence of many causes of national security to connect an agreement under which the UK will leave the sovereignty of the Chaghus Islands to Mauritius.
But security justifications For the deal Impact on British Indian Ocean lands (BIOT) this week was condemned in a report issued by policy exchange, a center -right thinking center, highlighting the danger of tense discussions when the Prime Minister and his team arrives in Washington.
The White House said this month that it continues to “review the British government’s agreement with Mauritius and the possible effects of the Maritime Support Facility Diego Garcia.”
Jim Rish, the Republican President of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate and Trump ally, said this week’s policy exchange that the deal represented a “serious surrender” to Beijing because it would allow Chinese influence in the region.
Jonathan Powell, National Security Adviser at Starmer, has held talks this month With his American counterpart Mike Walz In Chagos, Starmer’s allies said they expect the Prime Minister to discuss the case with Trump.
Before the visit, British officials claimed that the deal between the United Kingdom and Mauritius, which would include the United Kingdom to rent Diego Garcia for 99 years, will put the base on a “safe foot”.
Britain has argued that international legal provisions on the position of the archipelago raised doubt about the future operation of the air base and the Ports facility in Diego Garcia.
“The legal and security advice is very clear that the operation of the base will be in danger if there is no deal,” said Dooning Street. Under the plan, Britain abandoned the sovereignty over Shaghus to Mauritius.
British officials said that people became “proven” in the rule of the International Court of Justice in 2019, which said that the sovereignty of Britain on the islands should end as soon as possible.
They added that other problems may arise, including the possibility that some countries refuse to allow the “excessive” rights of aircraft that provide the UK and United States base strateically important in the Indian Ocean.
A Starmer spokesman also claimed that “the electromagnetic spectrum at the Diego Garcia base will not be able to continue working without a deal,” which could threaten safe communications.
“It is something that the United Kingdom and the United States currently obtained unique to it, and this is the case without legal certainty on the base [it] The spokesman added: “We will lose it.”
Both demanding in the policy exchange report, which he said, were rejected that even the rented civilian aircraft flying to Diego Garcia were not within the jurisdiction of the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations Agency, as long as they were used for a military purpose.
The report said: “flights to and from Al Qaeda are excluded from the scope of ICAO, because the organization only deals with civil aviation,” the report said.
The report claimed that the concern of the Downing Street about safe communications “is not a basis in reality” and that they cannot be affected by the provisions of the International Communications Union, another United Nations agency.
She said: “The International Telecommunications Union does not simply enjoy the continuation of the United Kingdom and the United States from using the radio -related radio spectrum, and it has no mechanisms to impose its decisions.”
“It is time for the government to reach its senses, remember its duty to defend the vital strategic interests in the United Kingdom, and stay away from the deal,” said Tom Oujindaat, former conservative minister of security.
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2025-02-19 05:00:00