The U.S.’s “unsinkable aircraft carrier” that Trump fears losing in the Indian Ocean: it is the last link in China’s ‘string of pearls’

The story of the Chagos Islands begins with the extermination of dozens of dogs. When Britain agreed to turn the Diego Garcia atoll into a U.S. base, it ran into a problem: people lived there. To give the Pentagon a new operating hub, London carried out a surgical and atrocious purge between 1967 and 1971. Chagossians were expelled from their homes and their land; their dogs – lifelong companions in the Indian Ocean – were locked in sheds and gassed with the exhaust from military trucks in front of their owners to force them to leave. Once again, in a dark history spanning centuries of abuse, the empire showed no mercy to native people.

Those exiles were dumped on the docks of Port Louis and ended up scraping by in the suburbs of Mauritius, staring at a horizon that no longer belonged to them. Meanwhile, Diego Garcia became a concrete aircraft carrier. A place without families or children, just runways and hangars. As a grim footnote, the base contains a Chagossian cemetery that U.S. military personnel tend and maintain. Once a year, a small group of exiles is allowed back solely to clean the graves under armed guard. They can touch their dead, but they cannot live on their land.

From that speck of dust, B-52 bombers have taken off to redraw the maps of Iraq and Afghanistan. For years, Diego Garcia has been the only U.S. runway that allows these airborne giants to load up tons of bombs and strike anywhere in Asia or the Gulf without asking an awkward ally for permission. In 1991 it was the powder keg of the Gulf war; in 2001 it was the springboard for the invasion of al-Qaeda’s sanctuaries. It is the key point from which Washington dominates the Indian Ocean – an armored gas station that never closes.

The island’s real secret lies not in its runways, but in its silence. For decades, Diego Garcia was one of the CIA’s “black sites” – a hell on earth. Unmarked planes landed at dawn with terrorism suspects who simply vanished from official records. Under the palm trees, interrogations and extraordinary renditions took place that would never have passed the scrutiny of any international court. London denied it all until 2008, when the foreign secretary, David Miliband, was forced to apologize to Parliament. He admitted that CIA flights carrying detainees had stopped over on the island. Until then, Chagos had been the perfect legal limbo.

But in 2026 the board has shifted violently, turning the base into a pivotal square in the silent war between China and the U.S. for global dominance. Britain, choked by international pressure, has ceded sovereignty to Mauritius. The empire has lowered the flag – but left the small print: the base stays. A 99-year lease has been signed so the United States does not have to move a single bolt.

Curiously, that was the moment when Donald Trump’s shouts began echoing through the Oval Office.

Trump’s anger is that of a property owner who suddenly loses control of the homeowners’ association. He knows Mauritius is not Britain; it is a nation that speaks the language of Beijing’s investments. China has spent years flooding the region with infrastructure and loans, and the fear in Mar-a-Lago is that handing over sovereignty has also handed over the right to decide who the neighbor is.

Trump’s fear is not that Chinese ships will dock at Diego Garcia tomorrow, but that China will use “checkbook diplomacy” to influence the Mauritian government. If, in 10 or 20 years, Mauritius decides China is the more profitable partner, it could start erecting obstacles, hiking the “rent,” or worse – allowing Beijing to install electronic surveillance equipment on neighboring islands, within striking distance of U.S. secrets.

For Beijing’s strategists, the island is a long-standing grievance known as the “Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier.” A choke point stifling their expansion and allowing Washington and India to squeeze China. From that runway, the U.S. could cut China’s oil supply in less than 24 hours. For Xi Jinping’s government, the base is the missing link needed to complete its “String of Pearls” – the network of friendly ports stretching from China’s coast to Sudan, which today has a black hole right in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

What’s more, for Chinese propaganda, Diego Garcia is the place where flight MH370 “disappeared” in 2014. Beijing fueled the theory that the plane was hijacked and taken to the base, turning it into a symbol of imperialist evil. China has smelled blood.

The paradox is as cruel as gassing dogs in 1971. Chagossians can now return to their islands, but they are forbidden from setting foot on Diego Garcia. They will watch the planes pass from the shore, knowing their home will become one of the most heavily surveilled places on Earth – and that the key to their house is no longer in London or Washington, but in a geopolitical carom pointing toward China.

Chagos is no longer just a base; it is another example of how China and the U.S. are trying to push each other out of their spheres of influence. Venezuela, Taiwan, Cuba – and now a tiny island of gigantic importance.

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