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)
Iranian demonstrators burn an effigy of President Joe Biden in downtown Tehran during a rally commemorating the International Quds Day on April 29, 2022. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The China-donated Gwadar Technical and Vocational Institute in southwest Pakistan's Gwadar on October 1, 2021, just after the building's completion. (Photo by Str/Xinhua via Getty Images)
A protest in Lagos, Nigeria, on May 22, 2018, after an attack in Benue state that killed at least 18, including two Roman Catholic priests. (Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images)
An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military personnel walks next to an Iranian Emad Surface-to-Surface missile in downtown Tehran. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Jeddah Security and Development Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on July 16, 2022. (Photo by Royal Court of Saudi Arabia/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)