The US Lost a Military Base to China

The US is in danger of losing a military base it absolutely cannot afford to lose. And it's all thanks to the UK and China. Welcome to China andensored. I'm Chris Chapel. Hey, Christmas is tomorrow. So, if you're not done with your Christmas shopping yet, don't panic. It's not too late to buy gifts not made in China. Pick up a copy of my Unmade in China Christmas shopping catalog. Full of goodies made right here in the US of A just for you. Patriotic Procrastinators. The link is below. Now, on with the show. The US is on the brink of losing a key military base and it could end up in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party. This is bad. And the worst part is the US isn't even involved in the decision. Let me explain. The base I'm talking about is on the island of Diego Garcia, also known as the footprint of freedom. Although I think there might be something very wrong with Freedom's foot, possibly footbinding. Diego Garcia is part of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean and it's home to a joint base shared between the UK and the US. Although in practice, it's primarily a US base. The base is a key refueling and resupplying hub for naval and air operations, including aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines. It's hard to emphasize just how important this base is and just how mad you're going to be with the UK in about 2 minutes. The US has no other base like this in the region. It's essential for projecting power into East Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, and securing the Indian Ocean, a vital trade route through which over 1third of the world's bulk cargo traffic and 2thirds of global oil shipments are transported. So yeah, it's pretty important. and the UK is practically giving it away all in the name of decolonization. Only this isn't really decolonization. And as an American, I would know since we celebrate how we forcibly decolonize from England every 4th of July, USA. You see, the Chagos archipelago along with the African island of Maitius were former French colonies. The UK acquired them following the Napoleonic Wars. Around a century and a half later in 1965, the UK split the Chagos Archipelago away from Maitius and turned it into the British Indian Ocean Territory. Throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, Britain also put in measures to slowly push out the Chagosians, the descendants of African slaves and Asian colonizers to make room for the US air base. 3 years later, Maitius gained independence. As for the Chagos Archipelago, since then there's been international pressure from the International Court of Justice, the UN General Assembly, and the International Tribunal for Law of the Sea to get the UK to give the island to Maitius, even though the Chowos Archipelago is nowhere near Maitius, and the Chowosians are not culturally or ethnically Maitian. and the UK caved. Shortly after the current UK Labor government under Prime Minister Kier Starmer came into power in 2024, the UK announced that it wanted to hand the Chagos archipelago to Maitius and it followed through signing a deal with Maitius in May of 2025. The idea here is that it will help the Chagosians even though the deal hands the Chagos archipelago over to a country that's ethnically, culturally, and linguistically completely different from them. And it does so without consulting the Chagosians. Heck, plenty of Chagosians don't even like the deal. >> I'd rather die. I just say it on I'd rather die that see my country go to Maitius. >> Well, that's pretty unequivocal. But hey, what's the worst that could happen? It's not like the British leaving a territory they were occupying and giving a large part of it to someone culturally different than the majority of those inhabiting it has ever caused trouble before. Right. Although the UK's House of Lords has paused the transfer, this deal could go through anyway. Now, you might be thinking, "What about that US military base on Diego Garcia?" Well, as part of the deal, the UK secured a 99-year lease to the Diego Garcia base, amounting to 3.4 billion pounds with the possibility of further extensions, as well as the power to veto any construction near the base. This supposedly helps address security concerns and maintain US presence. Sounds great, right? If only you didn't sense there was a Kardashiansized butt coming. As senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Friend of the show, Cleopascal points out, if the UK misses just one payment, the Maritians could terminate the lease. and the UK government would face a ton of pressure to miss a payment spurred on by Chinese influence operations. On the political left, it would be why is the UK continuing to fund this militarybased colonization blah blah blah blah blah blah. On the political right, it would be why is the UK government sinking so much taxpayer money into what is essentially giving a giant tax break to maritians and not British citizens. Remember, 99 years to miss just one payment. I think it's extremely likely that would happen. And if it does, then the US would technically be illegally occupying Diego Garcia. There would be a ton of pressure domestically and internationally for the US to then abandon the base. And as we saw in Afghanistan, the US abandoning bases doesn't really go so well. But hey, maybe the US could work something out with Maitius. Well, Maitius has deep ties with China. It's economically dependent on things like Chinese infrastructure projects, Chinese trade and Chinese millionaires. Just about anything involving Chinese money. Thank goodness all of these things are so consistent and reliable. No way this will ever come back to haunt them. There's also a lot of Chinese political influence at work, which makes me believe that Maitius will do more than just cooperate with China economically. To sum up, if this deal goes through, very likely the UK will miss a payment on the lease. Diego Garcia will go to Maitius, and the US would be under extreme pressure to give up basically its only military base in the Indian Ocean. And all it would take is something like a Gavin Newsome administration for that pressure to work. And guess who would step into that base when the US leaves? China is already expanding its influence through bases and ports in Djibouti, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. China is surrounding the Indian Ocean. If they get Diego Garcia, they become the dominant military power in the Indian Ocean. And if they get Taiwan, then a huge chunk of the world comes under Chinese communist control. But it's not too late to stop this. Contact your elected representative. Tell them this is important and tell them to pressure the UK to kill this deal. I put a link below for how you can find your representative or you can click this button. The UK is trying to push this deal through over the holidays so people won't pay attention. Pay attention. This has a real effect on a potential future war with China. The US can't lose this base. Once again, I'm Chris Chapel. See you next time.