Shinzo Abe invented the « Indo-Pacific »

President Trump visited Asia in November 2017. In Vietnam, he delivered a speech declaring a « free and open Indo-Pacific ». It meant a shift in the language leaders used to describe the world’s most populous region.

Mr. Trump actually borrowed the phrase from Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving post-war leader. Abe, who was killed by an assassin on Friday, died knowing that his signature geopolitical outlook – and the vocabulary used to describe it – has been fully embraced across much of the region and beyond.