Mattis noted how the nations of the Pacific region had stood up to various forces over the past 200 years. “No one country is going to dominate the Pacific,” he said. “History is very 100 percent compelling on it. If you think you’re going to take over the Pacific, you’ll just be the fourth who thought so,” he said, referring to the European colonialists, fascist and militarist powers, and Soviet communists who had made attempts.
