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 Ukrainian military member sitting on top of an armored vehicle on a dirt road on February 26, 2023, in Donetsk, Ukraine. (Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
A view of the Presidential Office Building in Taipei, which was previously the office of the governor-general of Taiwan during Japanese colonial rule. (Walid Berrazeg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
US service members participated in a joint electronic warfare training, where Marines and soldiers learned and effectively utilized electronic warfare equipment in smaller sized combat elements to enhance combat lethality. (US Marine Corps photo by Patrick King)
Members of the US Army's 11th Airborne Division and the Indian Army's 71st Mountain Brigade stand at parade rest during a rehearsal prior to the closing ceremony for bilateral training exercise Yudh Abhyas 2022 in Auli, India, on December 2, 2022. (US Army Photo by Christopher Dennis)
A Ukrainian soldier with an assault rifle stands amid wreckage as debris lie in the garage at a trolleybus depot on January 27, 2023, in Bakhmut, Ukraine. (Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
A Ukrainian army artillery crew dismounts from a self-propelled 122mm howitzer after firing on a Russian position on February 18, 2023, near Bakhmut, Ukraine. (John Moore/Getty Images)
Participants drill shooting positions at a combat training day hosted by a local paramilitary civil formation called TSEL on February 22, 2023, in Lviv, Ukraine. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Honor guards take part in a welcome ceremony for Paraguay's President Mario Abdo Benitez and Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei, Taiwan, on February 16, 2023. (Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images)