[ethbr1]

There are multiple islands and archipelagos in the region.

Close to Africa/ME: Maldives, Seychelles, Comoros, Mayotte

Close to SE Asia: Cocos and Christmas Island

Diego Garcia just happened to be forcibly depopulated by the British, so was a convenient choice.

[reaperducer]

  Close to Africa/ME: Maldives, Seychelles, Comoros, Mayotte
  Close to SE Asia: Cocos and Christmas Island

That's the whole point of Diego Garcia: It's not "close to" anywhere, and it's nearly in the middle of a bunch of places. That's what give it its strategic importance.

[ethbr1]

The Maldives are only ~400mi N of Diego Garcia.

[vel0city]

So its 400mi away from another set of tiny islands which themselves are hundreds of miles from the mainland.

I'd still argue that's pretty much "not close to anywhere."

[mmooss]

I mean, what current option is equivalent to Diego Garcia? Are any of those options realistic right now?

[ethbr1]

They're all pretty far from land and in the same general area.

If Diego Garcia were no longer an option, there would be alternatives. Especially with US levels of lease money.

That said, few of them are quite as remote as Diego Garcia. Which means not quite as easy to secretly fly RQ-180s or whatever the hell is more clandestinely based there.

[mmooss]

I don't think geography is the challenge as much as politics. What country and populace will give up their ancestral land to a foreign military base. Would you?

Remember that the small islands don't have much land to begin with, and bases are large.

[ethbr1]

A country that's desperate for infrastructure investment and foreign reserves, because they don't have much usable land to start with?

At some point leasing away an island, so that everyone else can have a better quality of life, is an attractive tradeoff.