‘USPACOM’ Name Change: What It Means For China, India, Quad | Taiwan Talks EP859

The US Department of Defense's decision to rename its Indo-Pacific Command back to Pacific Command has sparked questions about the future of one of the most influential strategic concepts in modern geopolitics. First championed by then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the early 2000s, it was later institutionalized as official US policy during President Donald Trump's first term through the 2018 renaming of PACOM to INDOPACOM. This new name reflected the idea that India is an important strategic partner of the US and its allies, and that the Indian and Pacific oceans form a single strategic theater. The latest change comes as Trump met Indian PM Narendra Modi at the G7. Is this a symbolic shift, or does it reveal something deeper about Washington’s approach to China and Asia? In this episode, we examine the significance of the PACOM name change, the legacy of Abe’s Indo-Pacific vision and what it means for regional security.

*Recorded on June 18, 2026 at 4pm Taiwan Standard Time

Host/Senior Producer: Yin Khvat
Consultant: George Nee

Our guests:

Chenlung Kuo
- United Daily News Deputy Editor-in-Chief
Sana Hashmi
- Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation Fellow
Tsai Jung-hsiang
- National Chung Cheng University Political Science Professor

Chapters:
00:00:00 – US Drops ‘Indo-’ from PACOM
00:02:02 – Is US Shifting Focus?
00:12:26 – US Allies Promoted ‘Indo-Pacific’




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