Acknowledging the U.S.’s growing ties to India, the Pentagon changed the name of the Pacific Command to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis formally announced the name change on Wednesday, May 30. “In recognition of the increasing connectivity between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, today we rename the U.S. Pacific Command to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command,” he said.
Secretary James N. Mattis, Secretary for @DeptOfDefense, announces the renaming of U.S. Pacific Command to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command to recognize the increasing connectivity between the Indian & Pacific Oceans and America’s commitment to the #IndoPacific! pic.twitter.com/PXk8eeRoWW
— U.S. Pacific Command (@PacificCommand) May 30, 2018
In April, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Alex Wong told reporters the use of the term Indo-Pacific “acknowledges the historical reality and the current day reality that South Asia and in particular, India plays a key role” in the Pacific, in East Asia and Southeast Asia. “That has been true for thousands of years and it’s true today,” Wong was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying.
