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)
Construction of roads and railways that will pass through the Zangezur Corridor continues in Zangilan, Azerbaijan, on October 9, 2023. (Resul Rehimov via Getty Images)
President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with President Xi Jinping during a welcoming ceremony at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Council of Heads of State in Qingdao, China, on June 10, 2018. (Sergei Guneyev via Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump looks on as Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a joint press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 7, 2025. (Jim Watson via Getty Images)
Chinese President Xi Jinping waves during a meeting with Vietnam’s Communist Party General Secretary To Lam at the Office of the Party Central Committee in Hanoi on April 14, 2025. (Nhac Nguyen via Getty Images)
Wild peach and apricot flowers are in full bloom in Yanqing District, encircling the Longquanyu Great Wall on March 25, 2025, in Beijing. (Hao Jihong via Getty Images)
From a balcony in the Ministry of Health Building in London, Prime Minister Winston Churchill addresses a huge crowd on May 8. 1945 (Victory in Europe Day). (Getty Images)
Members of a military music band march during a rally in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on November 7, 2021, in support of the national defense forces. (Eduardo Soteras via Getty Images)
German Chancellor Fredrich Merz during his meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw, Poland, on May 7, 2025. (Jakub Porzycki via Getty Images)
Taiwanese soldiers of the 58th Artillery Command mobilize a HIMARS missile system to a tactical position as part of the ongoing Han Kuang military exercise in Taichung, Taiwan, on July 12, 2025. (Daniel Ceng via Getty Images)
A Tenth Special Forces Group (Airborne) Green Beret provides security on the drop zone after performing freefall operations during a training exercise on March 31, 2023, near Fairbanks, Alaska. (US Army photo by Sgt. Luis M. Solorio)