China’s latest defence White Paper places greater emphasis on the role its military plays in homeland defence and internal stability at a time of increased competition with the US, said experts.

The new White Paper also outlined China’s position on the South China Sea and other maritime areas to a far greater extent than before.

Maritime specialist Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), said the increased reference to the South China Sea reflected China’s “growing angst” about how the situation in those waters would unfold in the future, given increased military presence there by various nations in recent months.