This Policy Analysis, authored by Andrew Davies, examines China's latest paper in its series of biennial Defence White Paper.

While still guarded in many respects, the White Paper exhibits greater transparency than some of its predecessors, something the West has been requesting. But more transparent doesn’t automatically translate into more reassuring and Defence of China 2008 paper contains some views that should provoke some thinking for the United States and its allies.

For Australia, it raises the issue of how we balance our alliance with the United States with the need to find a way to accommodate China as a major power within a broader community of nations.