Downing Street has scrambled to defend the Falkland Islands after Argentina’s attempts to leverage the Chagos Islands debacle for its own gain.
In light of yesterday’s controversial move, Argentina renewed its vow to take full sovereignty of the Falklands, with its foreign minister threatening “concrete action” to hand the islands over to Buenos Aires.
But now, No10 has hit back.
A Downing Street spokesman told GB News: “To be very clear on the Falklands, Chagos does not change our policy or approach to other overseas territories.”
Argentina’s foreign minister Diana Mondino welcomed the Chagos decision
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The Chagos Islands – a British Overseas Territory (BOT) – will be handed over to China ally Mauritius alongside a “financial support” package in order to “address wrongs of the past”, the Foreign Office said yesterday.
The move prompted uproar – as well as finger-pointing at Labour and ex-Foreign Secretary James Cleverly – but also provoked fears over the sovereignty of fellow BOTs the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar.
Argentina’s foreign minister Diana Mondino welcomed the Chagos decision – which she touted as an example of ending “outdated practices”.
In a post on social media, using the Spanish-language name for the Falklands, the “Islas Malvinas”, she said: “Following the path we have already taken, with concrete actions and not empty rhetoric, we will recover full sovereignty over our Falkland Islands.
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“The Falklands were, are and will always be Argentine,” she claimed.
More to follow…
