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 soldier walks with a rose near photos of people killed during Hamas's attack on the Nova festival at the site on November 29, 2023, in Re'im, Israel. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)
A Ukrainian soldier during a tactical and live-fire exercise on November 30, 2023, in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. (Roman Chop/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
President Joe Biden speaks during a press conference following his bilateral meeting with President Xi Jinping ahead of the G20 summit on November 14, 2022, in Nusa Dua, Indonesia. (The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)
Ukrainian soldiers work on an Avenger AN/TWQ-1 anti-aircraft missile system on November 28, 2023, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Kostya Liberov/ Libkos via Getty Images)
Supporters of Niger's National Council of Safeguard of the Homeland wave the Niger national flag and flag bearing the logo of private military Company Wagner as they gather to protest ouside the Niger and French airbase to demand the departure of the French army from Niger in Niamey on September 16, 2023. (AFP via Getty Images)