For US to counter China in Indo-Pacific, it must prioritise Indian Ocean island nations: analysts

By Washington leaving ‘Indo’ part of its policy to regional powers like India, it undermines direct engagement with neglected countries, expert says

US and allies tout ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’, but more hands-on Indian Ocean strategy urged amid China’s steady diplomatic inroads

Reading Time:6 minutes

Published: 6:00am, 14 May 2023Updated: 2:43pm, 14 May 2023

In 1967, after a months-long holiday in Mauritius, then 12-year-old Louis Humbert along with his mother and brothers sought to return to his native Chagos, a chain of 60 islands dotting the Indian Ocean. They learned the islands were “closed”.

That was because the US began setting up a military base on the Chagossian island of Diego Garcia in 1966. Recognising its strategic value, the US gradually removed the native population on and around the remote atoll after reaching a secret deal with Britain, which, until 1968, colonised Mauritius, which Diego Garcia was once a part of.

Equidistant from Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, the installation on Diego Garcia served the US during its military operations in the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan.

Today, as Chagossians demand reparations for historical injustices, Mauritius and Britain bicker over the islands’ sovereignty. And the US, which still runs the base, seeks to advance its interests beyond the Indian Ocean to avert what Washington describes as a “pacing threat” from China.

Fuel tanks on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago and site of a US military base. Photo: Reuters

China’s military and economic ascent has spurred the US to plot new alliances to blunt growing Chinese clout and establish new security footholds. The efforts have prompted calls from the US and its allies for a “free and open Indo-Pacific”.

The region, stretching from the Pacific to the Indian Oceans, represents a geostrategic zone of mounting importance. But even as the US tries to make headway with Pacific island nations, smaller Indian Ocean nations remain largely absent from America’s regional strategy.