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)
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during the 2024 ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne, Australia, on March 6, 2024. (Photo by George Chan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
A pedestrian walks by a large electronic screen displaying the numbers for the Hang Seng Index on February 14, 2024, in Hong Kong, China. (Photo by Li Zhihua/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)
An F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet, attached to the "Fighting Swordsmen" of Strike Fighter Squadron 32, takes off from the flight deck aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) on July 10, 2023, in the Atlantic Ocean. (DVIDS)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi prior to meetings at the State Department in Washington, DC, on October 26, 2023. (Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
Protestors oppose the Chinese Genocide of Uyghur Muslims outside of the State Department headquarters in Washington, DC, on November 20, 2023. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)