Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese shakes hands with Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on May 4, 2026. (Getty Images)
A Philippine Air Force Black Hawk helicopter lands on June 29, 2023, on Mavulis Island, which is the Philippines’ northernmost island and is roughly 88 miles from Taiwan. (Getty Images)
Senior lecturer in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University, Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute
A production line of the Glide, a high-altitude glider that delivers munitions across thousands of miles, is seen at the defense tech startup Mach Industries in Huntington Beach, California, on September 11, 2025. (Getty Images)
Trailers with launchers for guided missiles of a German Patriot air defense system stand on a snow-covered field in southeastern Poland on April 3, 2023. (Getty Images)
The Japan Air Self-Defense Force held an F-35 aircraft delivery ceremony at Komatsu Air Base in Japan on April 26, 2025. (F-35 Joint Program Office via JASDF and DVIDS)
Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba addresses a press conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo on June 23, 2025. (Kiyoshi Ota via Getty Images)
President Donald J Trump speaks with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House on February 7, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Jabin Botsford via Getty Images)
Minister of Defense of Japan Gen Nakatani and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth review an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Ministry of Defense on March 30, 2025, in Tokyo, Japan. (Kiyoshi Ota Getty Images)
The logo of Japan's largest steel manufacturer Nippon Steel corporation is seen in front of the company's head office in Tokyo on January 7, 2025. (David Marueil/ via Getty Images)
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba being interviewed with United States President Trump and others on April 17, 2025, in Tokyo, Japan. (The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)
Japan's Economic Revitalisation Minister Ryosei Akazawa poses with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in Washington, DC on May 1, 2025. (STR/JIJI Press/AFP via Getty Images)
Quad Alliance Foreign Ministers pose for a group photo at the Japan's prime minister office in Tokyo, Japan on July 29, 2024. (Zuma Press / Rodrigo Reyes Marin / Pool/Anadolu via Getty Images)
United States and Japanese national flags are displayed outside Palace Hotel Tokyo on May 25, 2019, in Tokyo, Japan. (Tomohiro Ohsumi via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in the Oval Office in Washington, DC, on February 7, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump greets Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba upon arrival outside the White House in Washington, DC, on February 7, 2025. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)