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)
Vladimir Putin and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev during the Russian-Uzbek signing ceremony at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit on September 15, 2022, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. (Contributor/Getty Images)
Azeri service members carry a giant flag during a procession marking the anniversary of the end of the 2020 military conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway region on November 8, 2021, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (Aziz Karimov/Getty Images)
A man looks on at a snow-covered security checkpoint that marks the entrance to Logar province, beyond the southern gate on January 17, 2022, in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Scott Peterson/Getty Images)