Brig Gurmeet Kanwal (Retd) and Dr Monika Chansoria

Military Strategy of Active Defence China released its sixth White Paper on National Defence (2008) in January 2009. Though it is an improvement on previously published White Papers in terms of transparency, there is still considerable opacity in revealing key defence policies, and annual defence expenditure. More significantly, China’s strategic outlook and its grand strategy remain shrouded in secrecy, even as the armed forces are modernising rapidly and preparing to extend China’s area of influence well beyond the first and second island chain and into the Indian Ocean. Until China is more forthcoming on these issues, its iteration of a ‘peaceful rise’ will continue to be received with scepticism.