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)
Xi Jinping is welcomed by Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud at the Palace of Yamamah in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on December 8, 2022. (Royal Court of Saudi Arabia via Getty Images)
Members of Taliban security force stand guard along a blocked road after a suicide blast near Afghanistan's foreign ministry at the Zanbaq Square in Kabul on January 11, 2023. (Wakil Kohsar via Getty Images)
People shout slogans at a rally in support of the Pakistani Army following the violent protests that erupted after the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on May 9, 2023. (Hussain Ali via Getty Images)
Shavkat Mirziyoyev meets with Ebrahim Raisi within the 22nd meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization leaders' summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on September 16, 2022. (Iranian Presidency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
A Lithuanian soldier stands next to a public bus with a mural on it urging the arming of Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets on the first day of the 2023 NATO Summit on July 11, 2023, in Vilnius, Lithuania. (Sean Gallup via Getty Images)
US President Joe Biden boards Air Force One before departing from King Abdulaziz International Airport in the Saudi city of Jeddah on July 16, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)