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)
Crew members are seen on the USS Indiana, a nuclear powered United States Navy Virginia-class fast attack submarine, as it departs Port Canaveral in Florida on October 1, 2018. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military personnel walks next to an Iranian Emad Surface-to-Surface missile in downtown Tehran. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
President Joe Biden waves before boarding Air Force One on June 28, 2022, in Munich, Germany, after attending the G7 Summit hosted by the German chancellor. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)