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)
Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army Wang Guanzhong speaks at the 13th International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 1, 2014. (ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Members of the Vostok Battalion, a pro-Russia militia, stand guard in an intersection on May 20, 2014 in Donetsk, Ukraine. (Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)
US Navy crew members on deck as a F-18 Super Hornet strike fighter plane takes off from the USS George Washington on the Korean Peninsula's west sea on November 30, 2010 (Song Kyung-Seok - pool/Getty Images)