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 researcher displays a silicon wafer, an essential material used in the production of semiconductors and other technologies critical to US national security. (Getty Images)
In this handout released by the U.S. Navy, The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) transits the Pacific Ocean. Theodore Roosevelt is conducting routine operations in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. (Photo by U.S. Navy via Getty Images)
USS Nimitz, USS Ronald Reagan, and USS Theodore Roosevelt conducting operations with South Korea's destroyers during a joint naval drill on November 12, 2017 in East Sea, South Korea (Photo by South Korean Defense Ministry via Getty Images)
Dezful medium range ballistic missile and Zolfaghar road-mobile single-stage solid-propelled liquid fueled missile in the Azadi square (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
A combined formation of aircraft from Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5 and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9 pass in formation above the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) (Photo by Lt. Steve Smith/U.S. Navy via Getty Images)