Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that the Mauritian government had been made aware that the Maldivian government will not change their stand on the territory dispute with Mauritius, regardless of the support for Mauritian sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago.

The Foreign Ministry stated this in a two-page statement issued on Monday night.

In a 2019 advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice, the UN's highest court, ruled that the continuing British occupation of the islands was illegal and the Chagos Islands are rightfully part of Mauritius.

London had previously come to an agreement with the Maldives as to where the maritime boundary should be placed, which is now disputed by Mauritius. Under the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, countries with ocean borders have control of the waters extending 230 miles from their coast.

Mauritius and the Maldives have been fighting over a 37,000-square-mile expanse of the Indian Ocean before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, with both claiming the fish-rich waters as their own economic zones.

A statement by the Attorney General's Office noted that during the ongoing hearing, it was made clear that the Maldivian government had informed the Mauritian government of its support for the resolution to decolonize Chagos, seeking to establish Mauritian sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago.

Foreign Ministry's statement further highlighted that supporting the resolution at the UNGA and the case being heard at ITLOS are two different issues, asserting that the fight for sovereignty was between the United Kingdom and Mauritius, which did not include the Maldives in any way.