Bucket-wheel excavators mine rare earth materials on Ukrainian soil on February 25, 2025, in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine. (Kostiantyn Liberov via Getty Images)
The guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald fires the first Naval Strike Missile from a US destroyer on July 18, 2024, in the Pacific Ocean. (US Navy photo)
Fast-attack submarine USS North Carolina (SSN 777) enters Dry Dock 1 at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, Hawaii, on September 4, 2024. (US Navy photo by Justice Vannatta)
A South Korean Army K1E1 tank crosses a pontoon bridge on the Imjin River during a joint river- crossing exercise as part of the Freedom Shield military drills with US and ROK forces in the border town of Yeoncheon, South Korea, on March 20, 2025. (Getty Images)
Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers an important speech during his inspection of the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army PLA Eastern Theater Command on July 6, 2023. (Li Gang/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Taiwanese military personnel drive a CM-25 armoured vehicle across the street during the Han Kuang military exercise which simulates China's People's Liberation Army invading the island on July 27, 2022, in New Taipei City, Taiwan. (Annabelle Chih via Getty Images)
Kevin McCarthy speaks with Tsai Ing-wen during a bipartisan meeting at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, on April 5, 2023. (Frederic J. Brown via Getty Images)
A Taiwanese honour guard takes part in a changing of the guard ceremony at the Martyrs' Shrine in Taipei on April 10, 2023. (Jameson Wu/AFP via Getty Images)