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 Air Force Airmen assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing recover a B-2 Spirit before a hot-pit refueling at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, on July 19, 2023. (Sheila DeVera via DVIDS)
Visitors walk past China's second nuclear missile on display as they visit the Military Museum in Beijing, on July 23, 2007. (Teh Eng Koon/AFP via Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin oversees the training of the strategic deterrence forces in Moscow on October 26, 2022. (Alexei Babushkin/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)
Pakistani military personnel stand beside a Shaheen III surface-to-surface ballistic missile during a Pakistan Day military parade in Islamabad on March 23, 2017. (Aamir Qureshi/AFP via Getty Images)