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 MARTAC T-24 unmanned surface vehicle (USV) drives autonomously during a demonstration for NATO mine countermeasures personnel as part of exercise Baltic Operations 2023 (BALTOPS 23). (DVIDS)
A large liquified natural gas transport ship sits docked in the Calcasieu River on June 7, 2023, near Cameron, Louisiana. (Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
A Ukrainian soldier looks at the sky after hearing the sound of a nearby drone at the Bakhmut front line in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on January 13, 2024. (Photo by Ignacio Marin/Anadolu via Getty Images)