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 Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during an ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 11, 2025. (Mandel Ngan via Getty Images)
Construction of roads and railways that will pass through the Zangezur Corridor continues in Zangilan, Azerbaijan, on October 9, 2023. (Resul Rehimov via Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump looks on as Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a joint press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 7, 2025. (Jim Watson via Getty Images)
Chinese President Xi Jinping waves during a meeting with Vietnam’s Communist Party General Secretary To Lam at the Office of the Party Central Committee in Hanoi on April 14, 2025. (Nhac Nguyen via Getty Images)
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar attend the ceremonial reception of Angola's President Joao Lourenco at the presidential palace Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on May 3, 2025. (Money Sharma via Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens during a meeting on the development of occupied regions of Ukraine at the Kremlin on June 30, 2025. (Getty Images)