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)
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during the United Nations General Assembly on September 20, 2023, in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
A model of Iran's first-ever hypersonic missile, the Fattah, next to a mosque in Tehran, Iran, on April 15, 2024. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Infantry soldiers from the Givati brigade of the Israel Defense Forces train with new, high-tech weapons and computers at the army's urban warfare training base on March 22, 2005, in southern Israel. (Photo by Yael Bar Hillal/IDF via Getty Images)
President Xi Jinping speaks during a toast at an official state dinner as part of the Chinese president's two-day state visit to France on May 6, 2024. (Photo by Ludovic Marin/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
President Joe Biden greets Chinese President Xi Jinping before a meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' week in Woodside, California, on November 15, 2023. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)