China’s white papers
Since 1998, China has released a white paper on its defence forces with regularity, with three particular editions—2010, 2013, and 2015—offering valuable insights into the thinking that informs the CMC, and, ultimately, the CCP.China’s 2010 National Defence White Paper, titled ‘China’s National Defence in 2010’, defined national defence tasks as safeguarding sovereignty, territorial integrity (land, sea, air), maritime rights, and emerging domains like space, electromagnetic, and cyberspace.The paper emphasised active defence, a no-first-use nuclear policy, and self-reliant strategies without arms races. A key theme was transitioning to “local wars under informed conditions,” prioritising information over sheer manpower. It promoted joint operations across Army, Navy, Air Force, and Second Artillery (later the Rocket Force), with integrated command systems and rapid-reaction capabilities. The paper also highlighted regional concerns like Taiwan, South China Sea, and neighborhood stability.‘Informationised warfare’ is a modern conflict doctrine, patronised by China, that centres on leveraging information technology to gain victory. China aims to have a fully ‘informationised’ force by 2049.China’s 2013 defence white paper, titled ‘The Diversified Employment of China’s Armed Forces’ emphasised “new historic missions” for the military under Xi, including protecting overseas interests, disaster relief, and international peacekeeping, while upholding a defensive policy and no-first-use nuclear stance. The paper highlighted China’s peaceful rise amid a complex security environment, addressing maritime disputes, non-traditional threats like piracy, and global responsibilities. It also spoke (again) about advancing “informationised” warfare capabilities, joint operations, and diversified force employment.The 2015 defence white paper, titled ‘China’s Military Strategy’, was the first white paper dedicated solely to military strategy rather than general national defence.It detailed the PLA’s missions under Xi Jinping’s “new historic missions”, emphasising “active defence in a complex security environment” with threats like hegemony, maritime disputes, space/cyber vulnerabilities, and overseas interests’ protection.It marked some key doctrinal shifts, note scholars, including marrying strategic defence with operational/tactical offence, the concept of pre-emptive strikes, and jointness and multi-domain operations. It also saw a new focus on non-war operations such as disaster relief, counter-terrorism, peacekeeping and strategic prepositioning.This set the stage for the 2015 reforms.The 2015 reforms
