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)
HMS Queen Elizabeth launches a U.S. Marine Corps F-35B, Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, and JS Kaga in the background as part of Maritime Partnership Exercise in Bay of Bengal, on October 17, 2021. (Russell Lindsey via DVIDS)
Chinese President Xi Jinping inspects China's Central Military Commission joint operations command center on November 8, 2022. (Photo by Li Gang/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 conduct pre-dive checks during recovery efforts of a high-altitude balloon in the Atlantic Ocean on February 7, 2023. (US Navy photo by Ryan Seelbach)
A soldier with the 781st Military Intelligence Battalion conducts cyberspace operations at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in California on May 9, 2017. (Army Cyber Command photo by Bill Roche)