LONDON — The long-delayed deal over the future of the Chagos Islands is being reviewed by the British government after Donald Trump criticized it as "terrible." Defense Secretary Wes Streeting pledged Wednesday to work with the Trump administration to land an agreement over the Archipelago, which is home to the sensitive U.S. military base, Diego Garcia. Streeting told Times Radio that the government would not ignore Trump's grievances with the deal — cautioning that "sticking our heads in the sand and hoping it won't go away" is not "a wise strategy." Streeting's comments followed a meeting between Trump and Andy Burnham in which the U.S. president described the agreement brokered by Burnham's predecessor Keir Starmer as "terrible." Under the most recent version of the plan — paused in April when Trump withdrew his support — Mauritius would gain sovereignty over the islands, which are one of Britain's last colonial possessions. The military base at Diego Garcia would be leased back to the U.K. and U.S. for a cost of £101m a year.
Critics of the deal, including right-wing politicians in the U.K., argue that it risks allowing China a crucial toehold in a strategically-important region. Trump has said repeatedly that he wants permanent and unrestricted access to the military base — and re-iterated Tuesday that this is "strategically very important" for the U.S., especially in the context of its war with Iran. Streeting said that he had looked at the situation with a "fresh pair of eyes" after taking over the defense brief in July, and insisted the British "strategy is not to wait out President Trump." Working with the U.S. administration will be "difficult and necessarily painstaking work," he added.
Burnham told reporters Wednesday that he would "work hard" to find a resolution that both the U.S. and U.K. could agree on. He added: "It's critical to safeguard the future of the base, and that matters to us for security reasons, but also clearly to the United States as well. "What I said in the meeting is that we will work to find that resolution between the different sides, and we'll work hard to find it."
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