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)
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida makes a national statement during day three of COP26 at SECC on November 2, 2021 in Glasgow, United Kingdom. (Photo by Hannah McKay - Pool/Getty Images)
Taiwan military forces parades in front of Taiwan presidential palace on the occasion of the nation's 110 birthday. (Photo by Alberto Buzzola/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Military vehicles carrying DF-100 ground-based land-attack missiles participate in a military parade at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on October 1, 2019. (GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images)
Military vehicles carrying DF-17 missiles participate in a military parade at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on October 1, 2019. (GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images)
Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits Yasukuni Shrine on the 76th anniversary of the WWII surrender on August 15, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)
Members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus arrive by car at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan on February 3, 2021. (Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)
Cargo containers sit stacked on ships at the Port of Los Angeles, the nation’s busiest container port, on October 15, 2021 in San Pedro, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)