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)
US Army National Guard Soldiers with Battery C conduct pre-mobilization training exercise America’s Shield on May 15, 2022, at McEntire Joint National Guard Base, South Carolina. (Tim Andrews via DVIDS)
Servicemen belonging to the Ukrainian storm brigade take part in military exercises outside Kyiv on April 20, 2023. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shake hands during a joint a press-conference following their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 20, 2023. (STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Ukrainian soldiers fire targets on the front line in the direction of the city of Ugledar, Donetsk, Ukraine as Russia-Ukraine war continues on April 18, 2023. (Muhammed Enes Yildirim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The People's Liberation Army and the PLA Navy conduct a live-fire drill in Zhangzhou, China, on August 24, 2022. (CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Ukrainian sailors kept on their ship by Russian servicemen as Russian forces without insigna invide Crimea in Sevastopol, Ukraine, on March 5, 2014. (Pierre Crom via Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Russian-Belarussian Supreme State Council, in Moscow, Russia, on April 6, 2023. (Contributor via Getty Images)