Both have become closely connected with country's safety and development

The Chinese military has been striving to safeguard the nation's security and interests in outer space and cyberspace, a newly-published white paper stated.

China's National Defense in the New Era, made public by the State Council Information Office on Wednesday, gives outer space and cyberspace the same weight as that of the nuclear force in China's national security, calling them "the major security fields".

This is the second time the security issues of outer space and cyberspace have been included in China's military white paper.

Compared with the first time the topics were raised in 2015, the texts pertaining to outer space and cyberspace in the new document are shorter but use stronger wording in an apparent attempt to emphasize the increased importance of these spheres.

Senior Colonel Yan Wenhu, a researcher on military strategy at the Academy of Military Science of the People's Liberation Army, said that the military attached a higher level of importance to outer space and cyberspace in the new white paper because those domains have become closely connected with the country's security and development.

"As the scale of our national interests keeps expanding to more dimensions, the country's very existence and development are increasingly dependent on outer space, cyberspace and deep sea, and are facing challenges and threats from these fields," he said. "The militarization of outer space and cyberspace by some world powers is on a fast track, and they are adopting technological edges and unfair rules to try to contain our peaceful use of outer space and cyberspace."