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 Foreign Minister Wang Yi addresses reporters as Secretary of State John Kerry listens at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, China, on May 16, 2015. (State Department)
Vladimir Putin, together with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and First Deputy Defence Minister Valery Gerasimov, observed the main stage of the Vostok-2022 strategic command post exercise at the Sergeyevsky range in the Primorye Territory. (Kremlin)
Xi Jinping leaves the podium in Hong Kong at a celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the city's handover from Britain to China. (Selim Chtayti/AFP via Getty Images)
An Apple Store at a usually bustling intersection in a popular shopping district after recent COVID-19 outbreaks on May 23, 2022, in Beijing, China. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
A service member working with Command Task Force 66 unloads a Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft into the Port of Uskta during exercise Baltic Operations 2025 (BALTOPS 25) on June 8, 2025. (US Navy photo)