China issued China's Military Strategy, a defense white paper, on Wednesday. This paper, along with The Diversified Employment of China's Armed Forces published in 2013, are hugely different from the previous China's National Defense papers, as they are thematic defense white papers. They represent China's latest move in military transparency in two critical areas - capabilities and intentions.

Strategy is the outcome of the assessment of a situation. The defense paper has analyzed the national security situation in a balanced ying and yang manner, citing both advantages and disadvantages. But cautious optimism prevails, in spite of, for example, the US rebalancing towards Asia and Japan's increasingly aggressive foreign-policy posture. The Taiwan issue is only slightly touched upon, because "in recent years, the cross-Straits relations have maintained a good momentum of peaceful development". It concludes that "China will remain in an important period of strategic opportunities for its development".

Maritime issues crop up in different chapters. Citing the provocative actions of "a few offshore neighbors" and the meddling of "some external countries" in the South China Sea, it asserts that it is a long-standing task for China to safeguard its maritime rights and interests. But the remarks are made in a rounded tone, as it also calls for "maintaining security and stability along China's periphery".