WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) called on United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer to abandon plans to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, including the island of Diego Garcia, to Mauritius, warning that the move would jeopardize a key joint U.S.-U.K. military base in the Indian Ocean.
Speaking on the U.S. Senate floor, Kennedy said the proposal would ultimately benefit China by giving it influence over the strategically significant territory.
“The only person on this planet who thinks this is a good idea besides Prime Minister Starmer is Xi Jinping of China,” Kennedy said. “Because once Mauritius owns the Chagos Islands—even though they say they are going to sign a lease and allow the U.K. and America to continue to operate the military base—I can guarantee you that China is going to put the pressure on Mauritius to allow China to force inspections of military equipment on all of the Chagos Islands, including Diego Garcia.”
Kennedy urged Starmer to reconsider, suggesting that if the United Kingdom is determined to divest control of the islands, it should sell them to the United States.
“If you are determined to give away these islands to Mauritius, which never owned them, which inevitably is going to help China, please sell them to the United States,” Kennedy said. “Then the United Kingdom can be out of the picture, and the United States can continue to control one of the mightiest and most important military bases in all of human history.”
Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos Islands, hosts one of the world’s most critical U.S. military facilities and serves as a key location for submarine reloading operations.
Kennedy has consistently opposed the U.K.’s plan to cede the islands to Mauritius, describing it as “dangerous and irresponsible.” Since 2024, he has issued public statements, authored op-eds in The Hill and The Telegraph, and spoken multiple times on the Senate floor urging both U.S. and U.K. officials to abandon the proposal.
He has also met with British policy experts, including Baron Dean Godson and Julia Mizen of the Policy Exchange think tank, and participated in a Wall Street Journal documentary calling the agreement “stone-cold stupid.”
In his most recent op-ed published Jan. 31, 2026, in The Telegraph, Kennedy reiterated his position, urging London to work with the Trump administration to safeguard Diego Garcia and preserve its strategic importance.