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)
An American flag flies from a crane as a construction worker helps build a mixed-use apartment complex on January 25, 2024, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The Rubymar cargo ship sinking off the coast of Yemen, damaged in a missile strike by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels on February 25, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images)
A US Air Force F-35A Lightning II refuels during exercise Mobility Guardian 23 on July 18, 2023, over the Pacific Ocean. (US Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Christian Sullivan)
Ukrainian soldiers of a tank unit continue their military mobility to prepare for combat as the Russia-Ukraine War continues after the second year anniversary in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on March 1, 2024. (Jose Colon via Getty Images)
Ukrainian servicemen of the Skala battalion perform a medical evacuation during a field military exercise in the Donetsk region on February 3, 2024. (Photo by Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images)
Russia's President Vladimir Putin visiting the Rocket and Space Corporation (RSC) Energia in Korolyov, outside Moscow, on October 26, 2023. (Gavriil Grigorov/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
A sign depicting a cutout of the Bahamas-flagged cargo vessel Galaxy Leader is raised by a protester behind a man carrying a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launcher during a pro-Palestinian rally in the Houthi-held capital Sanaa on February 7, 2024. (Mohammed Huwais/AFP via Getty Images)
A school director inspects a classroom damaged as a result of a Russian missile attack in Lviv, Ukraine, on February 15, 2024. (Yuriy Dyachyn/AFP via Getty Images)