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)
Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 conduct pre-dive checks during recovery efforts of a high-altitude balloon in the Atlantic Ocean on February 7, 2023. (US Navy photo by Ryan Seelbach)
A soldier with the 781st Military Intelligence Battalion conducts cyberspace operations at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in California on May 9, 2017. (Army Cyber Command photo by Bill Roche)
The US Navy aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain transit the South China Sea on November 4, 2021. (US Navy photo by Tyler R. Fraser)
Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China Li Zhanshu at the Eastern Economic Forum in Primorye, Russia, on September 7, 2022, on the heels of the Vostok 2022 joint military exercises between Russia and China. (TASS)
The Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Mississippi moors at Stirling Naval Base in Western Australia on November 28, 2022. (US Marine Corps photo by John Hall)
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to China's President Xi Jinping during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation leaders' summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on September 16, 2022. (Photo by Sergei Bobylov/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)