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)
The RT-2PM2 Topol-M space intercontinental ballistic missiles, cold-launched, three-stage, solid-propellant, road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles with thermonuclear warheads. Rehearsal for Victory Day Military Parade in Moscow, Russia on April 26, 2012. (Vyacheslav Argenberg via Wikimedia Commons)
An MV-22B Osprey lands aboard a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship for the first time on November 12, 2013, in Okinawa, Japan. (Marine Corps Photo by Lance Cpl. Matt Myers)
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)
Nancy Pelosi receives the Order of Propitious Clouds with Special Grand Cordon, Taiwan’s highest civilian honor, from President Tsai Ing-wen on August 03, 2022, in Taipei, Taiwan. (Chien Chih-Hung/Office of The President via Getty Images)