The Ministry of Defence has addressed concerns over the strategic risks posed by increasing Chinese influence in the region to the UK’s military base in Brunei, following a written question from Mark Francois (Conservative – Rayleigh and Wickford).
Luke Pollard, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, responded that “His Majesty, the Sultan of Brunei, and the Prime Minister recently signed the five-yearly renewal of the Garrison Agreement in December 2024, which signals His Majesty the Sultan’s wish to maintain the British presence in Brunei.”
Pollard added that the Government is taking a measured approach towards China. He stated, “This Government will take a consistent, long term and strategic approach to China. We will cooperate where we can. We will compete with and challenge China where we need to, to protect our national security and values.”
He further spoke of the UK’s commitment to the region, noting, “The UK remains committed to supporting a free and open Indo-Pacific and we continue to work with regional partners to strengthen international legal frameworks and to enhance maritime security, including through capacity building and joint exercises.”
The response comes as part of ongoing discussions within the Ministry of Defence on how best to safeguard UK interests at its overseas bases amid shifting geopolitical dynamics.
Increasing the size of our military in Brunei would help
Slightly off/on topic. So the the UK is worried about the influence of Chinese encroachment, they are selling the Chagos islands to Mauritius to is heavily allied with China. Can someone answer if I’m right or wrong?
We are giving chagos back to the rightful owners, which were forceably dislodged. Plus it’s not a uk base it’s a US one, just happens to be uk owned.
Topics have to be considered in full not just on isolated topics. The days of the empire are over and we have to move on.
I don’t think we are giving Chagos back to the people who were forcibly dislodged ie the Chagossians. HMG wants to give the islands to Mauritius together with a huge sum of money. The UK apparently never consulted the Chagossians, despite the fact that many live in southern England and could easily get to a meeting in London. It is said that most want to be a self-governing island nation under British protection and want nothing to do with Mauritius. Whatever happened to our belief in self-determination?
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If anything, the displaced Chagosians are the rightful owners. They’re mostly in Sussex and have not been consulted on the matter. Mauritius is not the ‘rightful owner’ by any stretch of logic.
The displaced Chagosians are not the rightful owners either….
None of them, or any of their ancestors, have ever owned 1 square centimetre of the Chagos Archipelago…they are all descendents of workers on plantations there who were shipped in. They lived their entire lives on company owned land….
So only land owners have rights?
Nope Chagos was administered from Mauritius! They have never owned the islands and the islanders descendants have NOT been consulted on their future and all indications are if they were they would like to remain a BIOT.
Sorry Steve, your wrong, the Islands are being given to Mauritius, which as an independent country as of 1965 never owned the Chagos. The days of Empire certainly are over, at least you got that correct.
Unfortunately the rightful owners of Chagos islands largely live in Surrey and their wishes have been completely ignored.
Fortunately the deal with Mauritius is now dead for a generation, they got too greedy and overplayed a very weak hand.
The rightful owner of the Chagos Islands is the British Government…the ‘Chagosians’ have never owned 1 sq centimetre of the land… “As for the population of the islands, after emancipation some slaves became contract employees; the population changing over time by import of contract labour from Mauritius and, in the 1950s, from Seychelles, so that by the late 1960s, those living on the islands were contract employees of the copra plantations. Neither they, nor those permitted by the plantation owners to remain, owned land or houses. They had licences to reside there at the discretion of the owners and moved… Read more »
You’re talking nonsense there Steve. Mauritius is most definitely not the rightful owner. The Chagosians are.
You have been misinformed.
We, I repeat we, have been in the Chagos Islands since 1814. Prior to that it was the French. Chagos Islanders were paid dispalacement fees to move out and/or given the right to relocate to the UK. Hardly forced out.
Giving it back to its rightful owners? who live in the UK, not sure about that.
My thought exactly.
The Chagos Islands situation is turning out to be a Can of Worms, not many understand the reasoning of why it is happening.
To try and summerise the situation, when the Labour Govt announced this initiative, it came as a bit of a surprise to the Govt of Mauritius, who as many have said have never spoken about or lodged a claim for the Chagos Islands. Being loosely aligned / friendly with the Chinese Govt they saw an opportunity to demand some concessions from our Govt and agreed to go along with the deal proposed for a not inconsiderate sum of money. Fast forward a few months and the Govt of Mauritius had changed due to an Election. This new Govt didn’t see… Read more »
I’m going to be slightly unusual as a UKDJ reader and pose a “Devils Advocate” question ! Money is tight, Army is under strength but we have 2 Jungle Training facilities, which is an environment we haven’t fought in for a very long time. So as Brunei is located in a very strategic part of the world, we do a lot of trade in SE Asia and the Sultan is an Anglophile and contributes to the costs is it not time to ditch BATSUB in Belize ? I actually don’t see what business is it of ours about what happens… Read more »
I agree, Belize makes no sense, Brunei pays for the presence and it’s also heavily used by Singapore. We should have nothing to do with Central America.
The UK has a mutual defence pact with Belize.
Belize wants the UK to pay slavery reparations and is about to drop Charles as head of state, why would we spend a dime to support a country that’s clearly no friend and is in a strategic backwater.
Brunei is strategic and pays for the prescience.
TOTALLY OT….ENGLAND!!!!!!
TEAM ENGLAND MAINTAIN BEACHHEAD IN NEW ANS OLD WORLD HOOYAH
I don’t think Labour has any credibility left with defence let alone challenging China so long as they continue with the surrender of Diago Darcia!
Counter China is a constant these days, their economy is a National Security threat, no one is allowed to be as good as the US. Thank goodness, Sir Starmer is obsequious to old Donnie, then UK gets a break from Trump tariffs, probably. There are thousands of islands in the South Pacific, all strategic, all need warships, bases, troops?? Don and Elon now controls all funding to every dept, govt org, and even to mass media. Soon he will revoke broadcast license to CBS, CNN, MSN, all others that refuse to agree with Trump viewpoints. Even UK media will be… Read more »