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)
Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, William Brent Christensen, and John C.C. Deng after a press conference about the United States-Taiwan Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue in Taipei, Taiwan, on November 21, 2020. (Ceng Shou Yi/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
An employee checks the production line of drink bottles at the workshop of Changji Baolong Packaging Technology Development Co., Ltd. on May 6, 2024, in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. (Tao Weiming/VCG via Getty Images)
Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech at the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing, China, on September 5, 2024. (Li Xueren/Xinhua via Getty Images)
People wave Indian flags as an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) rocket carrying the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft lifts off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, an island off the coast of southern Andhra Pradesh state, on July 14, 2023. (Photo by R.Satish Babu/AFP via Getty Images)