A Pentagon decision to strip “Indo” from the name of its largest unified military command eight years after it was initially added has raised questions about the United States’ continuing commitment to India.

In a statement announcing the Indo-Pacific Command’s name change on June 16, US officials portrayed the move as a matter of “honour”, “pride” and respecting “historical roots”.

But analysts told This Week in Asia that New Delhi would likely read the reversion to Pacific Command (PACOM) as another small but pointed signal that India’s place in Washington’s strategic imagination was shrinking.

“Whatever ephemeral morale boost might come from the renaming is entirely outweighed by the symbolic damage done to US ties with the most populous country on the planet,” said Christopher Clary, an associate professor of political science at the University at Albany.

“The renaming is senseless. It is reasonable for sceptics to wonder whether the goal is to appease China, which seems to be the recurrent feature of this administration’s policy in Asia.”