President Trump’s courageous and bold decision to capture Venezuelan tyrant Nicolás Maduro was a demonstration of tremendous U.S. leadership on the world stage. It was also a huge blow and humiliation for Communist China, a close partner of the Maduro regime. The raid on Caracas put Beijing firmly on the back foot. But thousands of miles away in the Indian Ocean, China is about to receive a huge strategic win courtesy of the British Government, unless it can be stopped.

The incredibly foolish actions of Prime Minister Keir Starmer threaten to weaken the security of the United States and undermine a transatlantic special relationship that has been in place for over 80 years. This is at a time when both of our great nations are confronting a new cold war orchestrated by the Chinese Communist Party and egged on by its erstwhile supporters—Russia, Iran and North Korea.

The staggeringly reckless decision by Starmer’s Labour Government to hand over the British Indian Ocean Territory to Chinese ally Mauritius following an earlier advisory ruling by the UN International Court of Justice in The Hague is one of the most dangerous acts of self-harm by the United Kingdom in its post-war history.

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The Territory includes the Chagos Archipelago, which is the home of the strategically vital U.S.-UK military base of Diego Garcia. Under the proposed deal, the British Government will pay Mauritius close to a staggering £35bn to lease Diego Garcia over the course of the next 99 years. This goes over the objections of the indigenous inhabitants of the Islands, the Chagossians, who overwhelmingly wish to remain under British sovereignty.

Opponents of the deal have rightly described it as an appalling surrender of British sovereignty and a capitulation to a supranational court. In a manifest blow to the Starmer Government, the highly controversial Chagos Bill has just been amended in the House of Lords before it returns to the Commons, which should delay formal agreement by several weeks.

There now remains a narrow window of time for the United States to raise major concerns over the deal and to help send it to the bottom of the Indian Ocean. American interests in the Indo-Pacific will be directly impacted if the Chagos deal moves forward.

Case in point, the recent successful strikes on Iran’s nuclear weapons program were supported by operations conducted from Diego Garcia, and the base acts as a significant deterrence against adventurism by regimes like Iran, Russia and China across the Indian Ocean.

The looming handover of the Chagos Islands is a massive coup for Communist China, which has long coveted a foothold in the region. There can be no doubt that Beijing will use this golden opportunity to advance its own interests at America’s and the UK’s expense.

If the deal is ratified and implemented, Mauritius will have full sovereignty over the Islands, and could offer China its own base on Chagos in close proximity to Diego Garcia, with endless opportunities for spying on U.S. and British military activities.

Mauritius could also sign a defense agreement with Beijing granting China access to the waters around the Chagos Islands, making the base at Diego Garcia practically impossible to operate for the United States.

There is also the very real possibility that Mauritius could renege on the agreement with Britain in the coming years, and agree to sell the Islands at a higher price to China, forcing the U.S./UK base to close altogether.

Regardless, placing questions over the sustainability of the basing in Diego Garcia makes it highly likely that this critical military presence will fade as threat actors maneuver with increasing impunity across the Indian Ocean.

There is fortunately still time for the United States to intervene at the eleventh hour to halt the deal. The State Department issued a statement in May backing the Chagos deal, but significantly no such statement has been made directly by the White House.

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President Trump still has an historic opportunity to seek a British reversal from this myopic and self-defeating decision. Securing Diego Garcia basing in perpetuity is defending America’s national security and preventing Communist China from a major strategic victory.

The Chagos deal is a hugely risky, monumental folly with incredibly dangerous potential outcomes for the U.S. Trump should call for an urgent review before it is ratified in Parliament.

The full implications of the Chagos deal for Diego Garcia should be subject to a detailed and exhaustive analysis by the White House and Pentagon, as well as Congressional hearings on Capitol Hill in both the House and Senate.

America’s national security, in this case the future of a crucial U.S. military base, should not be placed at the mercy of the rash decision-making of a foreign government, even if it is America’s closest friend and ally.

In stark contrast to Starmer, his illustrious predecessors in Downing Street Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher would never have backed a deal that weakens the defenses of both the United States and the United Kingdom. And nor should Trump, the undisputed leader of the free world.