Out of Asia and into the Indo-Pacific

AS US President Donald Trump makes his way across Asia, ears in local capitals have picked up a subtle but unmistakable change in messaging from the US administration. The shift focuses on an apparently innocuous term: "the Indo-Pacific". US National Security Adviser HR McMaster introduced the president's itinerary to reporters as "a great opportunity to demonstrate America's and the Trump administration's commitment to the Indo-Pacific". Mr Trump himself has used the term, and it is all over the official press releases from the White House.

Territorial disputes

This is not just semantics. The difference between the more commonly used "Asia-Pacific" and the new "Indo-Pacific" is actually quite deep. Those who prefer the latter want to stress that the great power conflicts in East, South and South-east Asia are essentially maritime - over the control and openness of trade routes and over who gets to build and secure the infrastructure through which the vast majority of the world's trade passes. By pushing the borders of America's awareness as far as India, it means that China and its concerns are no longer at the centre of US s…