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)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, hears a report on the scientific research on COVID-19, March 2, 2020. (Getty Images)
Chinese President Xi Jinping chairs a teleconference after the field inspection of Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic, on March 10, 2020. (Ju Peng/Xinhua via Getty)
Security men wearing protective masks stand near a statue of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong at a gated entrance of Tongji University on March 17, 2020 in Shanghai, China.
A large screen in the street shows Chinese president Xi Jinping wearing a protective mask during his visit to Wuhan earlier in the day, the epicentre of the coronavirus, on CCTV's evening newscast on March 10, 2020 in Beijing, China.