Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made representations to her (a) Indian and (b) Chinese counterparts on comments by the representatives of Mauritius on the lease of land in the Chagos Archipelago upon the ratification of the 2025 treaty on the British Indian Ocean Territory.

The treaty contains robust provisions to protect the base, including a 24 nautical mile buffer zone around Diego Garcia and a ban on foreign security forces anywhere in the archipelago. Any suggestions that Mauritius has been negotiating a lease on Peros Banhos are false. This was confirmed by the Mauritian Attorney General in a public statement on 20 October 2025.