The term "Pacific Basin" includes both the Pacific Rim and the
islands in the Pacific Ocean, which are often ignored in Pacific Rim frameworks. The "Pacific Basin" has also been used to exclusively refer to the islands in the Pacific Ocean (sometimes including
Australia,
New Guinea,
New Zealand, the
Philippines and other large landmasses), but not the mainland rims of
Asia and the
Americas, which are separately referred to as the Pacific Rim under this framework. The term "The Pacific" often takes on a similar meaning, with the mainland rims of Asia and the Americas being excluded, and other large landmasses sometimes being included depending on the context. Some rare definitions of the Pacific Rim define it to exclude both the Asian and American mainlands and also the islands in the central Pacific. This defines the Pacific Rim as only including insular areas which are outside the main insular cultural zones of
Melanesia,
Micronesia and
Polynesia, such as Australia,
Japan,
Indonesia, the Philippines, the
Aleutian Islands and the
Galápagos Islands. A
national park in
Canada's
Vancouver Island was named after the Pacific Rim, while in
mainland Vancouver, there is a hotel named
Fairmont Pacific Rim.
Whidbey Island in the
U.S. state of
Washington also has an organization named the Pacific Rim Institute for Environmental Studies. Various
intergovernmental and
non-governmental organizations focus on the Pacific Rim, including
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC),
Association of Pacific Rim Universities,
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the
East-West Center, Sustainable Pacific Rim Cities, the
Pacific Basin Institute and the
Institute of Asian Research. In addition, the
RIMPAC naval exercises are coordinated by
United States Pacific Command. Japan's
Okinawa Pan-Pacific International Film Festival is a film festival exclusively dedicated to films from the 46 countries in the Pacific Rim/Basin. APEC and the CPTPP are the two largest economic-based Pacific Rim organizations, although in 2024, the CPTPP admitted the
United Kingdom as its first non-Pacific Rim member, with other non-Pacific Rim countries like
Ukraine,
Uruguay and the
United Arab Emirates expressing interest in joining. Australia, New Zealand and
Papua New Guinea are the only countries who are members of both APEC (an organization dedicated to large Pacific Rim countries) and the
Pacific Islands Forum (an organization dedicated to smaller Pacific island countries). Australia and New Zealand are also CPTPP members. ==In media==