00:00The U.S. Defense Department is renaming its Indo-Pacific Command to Pacific Command.
00:05That was its original name. It was changed to include Indo in 2018 to reflect increasing
00:11importance of the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia. In a statement, the command said the name
00:17change honors its deep historical roots. It says its mission and commitment to a free and open
00:23region remains unchanged. Despite the updated name, the command's geographic responsibilities
00:28will not change. For more on this, our reporter Larry Isiano spoke with retired U.S. Air Force
00:36Lieutenant Colonel Girmat Lailari, a senior non-resident fellow at a Jewish policy center.
00:43What do you think motivated the Trump administration to make this change,
00:47given he was president when it originally moved from Pacific Command to Indo-Pacific Command?
00:52I think this is following several other changes that have happened in the past.
00:58In the former Department of Defense, now the Department of War, as one example. I think
01:04the people who are pro-Trump will say that reverting back to Pacific Command, PACOM, is an attempt
01:16to refocus the U.S. military on its primary mission in this region, which is the first and second
01:24island chain. Anti-Trump side, or the people who are, let's say, not pro-U.S., would say,
01:31ah, the U.S. is retreating, they're weak. You see this is an example of them withdrawing from the
01:37world. But big picture is nothing has changed, actually, except the name. In other words, the number
01:44of people assigned, the region hasn't changed.
01:49How do you expect regional actors, especially the members of the Quad, that is Japan, Australia,
01:54and India, to respond to this name change?
01:57Japan and Australia have been pretty muted on this because they have a bilateral defense treaty
02:03with the United States, as well as South Korea. The country that's having a little more problem
02:09with this is obviously India. Prime Minister Modi and President Trump had some words privately.
02:16Modi has been quiet about the reaction. His opposition has used it to show that the U.S.
02:25is not reliable, and they're withdrawing from the region, and they're left just having to deal
02:34with China by themselves. And Trump has countered that by saying nothing has changed except the name.
02:40India. And he's reassured Modi that he's committed to helping India if they are involved in a conflict.
02:51You've mentioned that you think it's mostly just a renaming exercise without a lot of operational
02:55changes to come. But what immediate impacts do you anticipate from this decision?
03:00If nothing else happens except the name change, I think everyone will calm down.
03:05Except, of course, China, which will exploit this no matter what happens. This is a refocusing of
03:12the U.S. military on its primary mission, which is the Western Pacific and Taiwan. And I think this
03:19should be the message that is sent and received in Beijing and in Taipei and the rest of the
03:30Pacific. Indo-Pacific region, however you want to call it.
03:34That was Kieramud Lailari from the Jewish Policy Center.
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