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)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives to give a statement to the media following the victory by U.S. Republican candidate Donald Trump in U.S. presidential elections on November 9, 2016 in Berlin, Germany. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
A satellite image shows what CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative says appears to be concrete structures with retractable roofs on the artificial island Fiery Cross reefs in the South China Sea in this image taken February 7, 2017 and released on Fe
US Defense Secretary James Mattis (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (R) shake hands at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on February 3, 2017. (EUGENE HOSHIKO/AFP/Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump speaks on the phone with Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, with Chief Strategist Steve Bannon (R) and National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, from the Oval Office on January 28, 2017. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
US soldiers and South Korean soldiers participate in a river crossing exercise on May 30, 2013 in Yeoncheon-gun, South Korea. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)