| Photo Credit: APmore-inThe United States on Wednesday renamed its strategically important Pacific Command (PACOM) the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, in a move widely seen as a public expression of Washington’s keenness to count India as a key partner in its strategic planning. The Donald Trump administration has been using the term Indo-Pacific instead of Asia-Pacific in official documents already. Primary combatant command“For U.S. Pacific Command, it is our primary combatant command, it's standing watch and intimately engaged with over half of the earth's surface and its diverse populations, from Hollywood to Bollywood, from polar bears to penguins as Admiral Harris puts it,” Mr. Mattis said. While we are prepared to face any who would seek to challenge America's resolve, our National Defense Strategy is not a strategy of confrontation,” Mr. Mattis said. Moreover, the U.S. and India have different ideas of what constitutes the Indo-Pacific — India includes the whole Indian Ocean region, which US CENTCOM and AFRICOM cover as well,” she said.

Source: The Hindu May 31, 2018 04:13 UTC