Washington Outmaneuvers Beijing in Indian Ocean Strategy

Politics, Geopolitics and Conflict Indian Ocean: The U.S. has just secured the future of its military base in Diego Garcia—arguably the single most important Western outpost in the Indian Ocean—by backing a UK-Mauritius sovereignty deal that hands nominal control of the Chagos Archipelago to Port Louis while locking in a 99-year lease for the U.S.-UK base. Strategically, it’s a masterstroke cloaked in diplomacy: Washington and London preserve full operational control while neutralizing a longstanding UN decolonization challenge…