Chinese military personnel take part in a rehearsal ahead of a parade commemorating the eightieth anniversary of victory in World War II in Beijing on August 20, 2025. (Pedro Pardo via Getty Images)
Senior lecturer in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University, Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute
US Commerce Secretary Howard William Lutnick and Japanese Minister for Economic Revitalization Ryosei Akazawa shake hands on on September 4, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)
Arleigh Burke–class guided-missile destroyer USS Chafee (DDG 90) sails in formation during the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise on July 28, 2022. (DVIDS)
A formation of Dongfeng-41 nuclear missiles takes part in a military parade celebrating the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in Beijing on October 1, 2019. (Xia Yifang via Getty Images)
Senior lecturer in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University, Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute
A microchip and Taiwanese flag displayed on a phone screen are seen in this multiple exposure illustration photo on April 10, 2023. (Jakub Porzycki via Getty Images)
Chinese Catholic worshippers wait to take communion at the Palm Sunday Mass during the Easter Holy Week at an "underground" or "unofficial" church on April 9, 2017 near Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during an event at the State Dining Room of the White House on May 5, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
China's President Xi Jinping applauds after voting during a session during the closing session of the National People's Congress (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images).
Chinese President Xi Jinping takes part in a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on July 2, 2019. (MARK SCHIEFELBEIN/AFP via Getty Images)
Workers attend the ceremony for the Opening of 'Belt and Road' RCEP Line, including EMC Southeast Asia Line, WHL/IAL Vietnam Line and WHL/IAL/ZIM/KMTC India Line, at Qingdao Port on January 19, 2021 in Qingdao, Shandong Province of China. (Photo by Zhang
US President Joe Biden, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meets virtually with members of the "Quad" alliance of Australia, India, Japan and the US, in the White House on March 12, 2021. (OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP/Getty Images)
Yoshihide Suga, Japan's prime minister, speaks during a news conference at the prime minister's official residence on January 07, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan (Photo by Pool/Getty Images)
The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group transits in formation Jan. 25, 2020 (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Anthony Rivera)