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)
A US Air Force B-52 Stratofortres and other aircraft fly in formation over the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt on February 24, 2024, in the Philippine Sea. (US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Thomas Gooley)
A 550-ton outer dome is hoisted in place at the construction site of the world's first commercial small modular reactor, Linglong One, on February 6, 2024, in Hainan Province, China. (Photo by Luo Yunfei/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)
Chinese President Xi Jinping with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest, Hungary, on May 9, 2024. (Photo by Xie Huanchi/Xinhua via Getty Images)