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 Chinese flag flutters in the wind at a beach on Pingtan Island, the closest point in China to Taiwan’s main island, in Fujian Province, China, on October 15, 2024. (Adek Berry via Getty Images)
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a statement inside No. 10 Downing Street on the day the cabinet was recalled to discuss the situation in Gaza on July 29, 2025, in London, England. (Toby Melville via Getty Images)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies before the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs at the Rayburn House Office Building on May 21, 2025, in Washington, DC. (John McDonnell via Getty Images)
The Pentagon, heaquarters of the US Department of Defense, is seen from the air on February 8, 2025, in Washington, DC. (J. David Ake via Getty Images)
The scientific ice-going Kronprins Haakon sails through the sea ice in eastern Spitzbergen in the Svalbard archipelago on April 10, 2025. (Olivier Morin via Getty Images)