Relationship dossier
British Indian Ocean Territory
India
Relationship assessment
India has supported Mauritius’s sovereignty claim over the Chagos Archipelago; the territory is governed by the United Kingdom.
British Indian Ocean Territory toward India
Not assessedIndia toward British Indian Ocean Territory
-15India supported Mauritius’s claim to sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, including the British Indian Ocean Territory, in international forums. This position contests continued British sovereignty over the territory.
Overall relationship
Not assessedHow to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
The British Indian Ocean Territory is a British dependent territory and does not conduct an independent foreign policy. India has supported Mauritius’s claim to sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, which includes the territory. This reflects a sovereignty disagreement with the administering power rather than evidence of broader Indian hostility toward the territory.
Areas of tension
- Sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, including the British Indian Ocean Territory.
Key developments
India supported a UN General Assembly resolution calling on the United Kingdom to end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago and facilitate its transfer to Mauritius.
Major uncertainties
- The implications of India’s support for Mauritius’s claim for any direct government-to-government engagement with the territory are unclear.
- The scope of any practical Indian cooperation involving the territory is unclear.