Titled "China's National Defense in the New Era", the white paper released Wednesday by the State Council Information Office expounds China's defensive national defense policy in the new era and explains the practice, purposes and significance of China's efforts to build a fortified national defense and a strong military.

 

It also said for the first time that actively contributing to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind is the global significance of China's national defense in the new era.

 

"We must understand that China is not in a hegemonic search that etymologically means the military and political supremacy exercised by a state," Sonia Bressler, a French writer and sinologist, commented on the white paper.

 

"China, as a power, makes the choice of sharing and not of domination. It is therefore appealing to the intelligence of the people," Bressler said, adding "this affirmation is unprecedented because it places peace at the heart of the political process."

 

"The 2019 white paper outlines China's national defense policy system. It highlighted China's strategic direction and policy of protecting development and win-win projects," said Nourhan al-Sheikh, professor of political sciences with Cairo University.

 

"This year's white paper really matched China's principles that believed that hegemony and expansion are doomed to failure and security and prosperity shall be shared," he said.

 

"The white paper also focused on win-win cooperation, safeguarding China's security and development interests that go in parallel with protecting the routes of the Belt and Road Initiative," he said.

 

Shadrack Gutto, a political analyst with the University of South Africa, said that the white paper will definitely help people understand China's military development, noting Chinese are going to take the white paper forward and translate its theory into action.

 

Mahmoud Raya, director of the website "China in Arab Eyes", said that China provided in the paper a comprehensive picture of the bases governing China's military strategies, which mainly focus on defense and on creating a secure world away from hegemony and domination.

 

The Lebanese expert stressed that the white paper gives hope of creating a safe world away from chaos and mutual threats, and draws a comprehensive global strategy which if adopted by various countries, peace and stability that humanity still lacks so far will prevail on this planet.

 

Eric Mangunyi, a researcher at the Walter Sisulu University, South Africa, noted that China is the main participant and force for global security.

 

"The paper reiterated China's commitment to reject any form of hegemonism and underlined the defensive nature of the policy and of the military modernization," William Jones, Washington bureau chief of the U.S. publication Executive Intelligence Review, told Xinhua.

 

"It also underlines the role China is playing in the numerous peacekeeping missions in which it is involved and the increasing collaboration with the militaries of other nations, including a stable mil-to-mil relationship with the United States," said Jones.

 

Vasily Kashin, head of the Department of International Military-Political and Economic Issues of the Russian Higher School of Economics, said that the white paper presented more data with more details and elaborated China's views over regional and global military and political situations.

 

It is reasonable for China to elaborate its views on a series of international military and political issues against the backdrop that a few Western countries are leaving no stone unturned to contain China, said Kashin.

 

China says in the white paper that it will never seek hegemony, expansion or spheres of influence. A strong Chinese military is a staunch force for world peace, stability and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

 

The 27,000-character white paper is the 10th of its kind since 1998 and the first comprehensive one since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012.