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)
A US Marine Corps VXE30 Stalker unmanned aerial system is staged during a maritime domain awareness training exercise in southern Finland on July 31, 2025. (DVIDS)
Ukrainian military personnel control the unmanned ground vehicle platform Rys Pro equipped with a remote-controlled machine-gun turret during training on April 18, 2025, in an unspecified area of Ukraine. (Serhii Mykhalchuk via Getty Images)
A service member working with Command Task Force 66 unloads a Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft into the Port of Uskta during exercise Baltic Operations 2025 (BALTOPS 25) on June 8, 2025. (US Navy photo)
US President Donald Trump listens to questions from reporters after speaking on economic data in the Oval Office on August 7, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee via Getty Images)
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, President Vladimir Putin meets with Moscow-installed head of the Donetsk region in Russian-controlled Ukraine, Denis Pushilin (not pictured), at the Kremlin in Moscow on August 4, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel via Getty Images)