Mingri “Ezra” Jin, head pastor of Zion Church, is seen on September 12, 2018, in Beijing, days after authorities shut down one of China’s largest “underground” Protestant churches. (Getty Images)
Palestinian Hamas militants gather at the site of the handing over of the bodies of four Israeli hostages in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza on February 20, 2025. (Eyad Baba 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)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks at a press conference at the State Department in Washington, DC, on July 1, 2025. (Allison Robbert via Getty Images)
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