During the tour spread over 12 days, Trump will also be visiting South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines.
The Trump administration today defended the use of « Indo-Pacific » phrase instead of « Asia Pacific », saying it captures the importance of the rise of India with which the US has strong and growing ties.
« We have strong and growing ties with India. We talk about ‘Indo-Pacific’ in part because that phrase captures the importance of India’s rise, » a senior White House official told reporters in Tokyo, as US President Donald Trump touched down in Japan, kicking off a marathon Asia tour.
During the tour spread over 12 days, Trump will also be visiting South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines.
« It (Indo-Pacific) captures the importance of the maritime free commons that allow our security and our prosperity to continue, » said the official, while responding to queries on the increasing use of the phrase « Indo-Pacific » by the Trump Administration, its talk about free and open trade in the region and how the Chinese should regard that.
And the strategy is « certainly » not to contain China. « Containment, certainly not, » the White House official said on condition of anonymity.
Reaffirming that the United States is a Indo-Pacific power, the official said America’s security and prosperity depends on the US maintaining access for free flow of commerce to this region, because it is a Pacific nation.
