China signals ambitions for a greater naval presence further from its shores with the unveiling of a new military strategy white paper.

Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday, a spokesman for China's Defence Ministry, Yang Yujun, denied the timing of the paper's release had any connection with the ongoing spat with the United States, which flew a surveillance plane last Wednesday over the reef and rock formations where China is carrying out extensive land reclamation and building in the disputed waters.

The paper also indirectly cites Australia's strengthening military alliance with the US as an issue of concern, in the context of the US continuing to enhance its military presence and alliances in the Asian region as part of its "rebalancing" strategy toward the Asia-Pacific.

Australia's own defence white paper, expected to be released in the next month, will be closely watched in Beijing for its language on the South China Sea as well as the East China Sea, where China is involved in a dispute with Japan over the sovereignty of the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands.

Australia's own defence white paper, expected next month, will be closely wached in Beijing

The US is beefing up its military assets across Asia, with Australian bases soon to host some of its most formidable strategic weapons.

A US defence official said American B-1 bombers were bound for Australia as a deterrent to what they described as China's "destabilising effect" in the region.

The move is part of the Obama administration's plans to "assert freedom of navigation" in the South China Sea.

Assistant US defence secretary David Shear confirmed the move.

"We will be placing additional air force assets in Australia as well as B-1 bombers and surveillance aircraft," he said.

China's foreign ministry expressed "serious concern".

The US air force said the B-1 bomber was the back bone of its long-range bomber force

Mr Shear told a special congressional hearing on the South China Sea the deployment of air assets to Australia was in addition to the doubling of US marines bound for Darwin, leaving their current base in Japan. "We will be moving significant numbers of Marines to Hawaii, Guam and Australia," he said. "So we will have a very strong presence, very strong continued posture throughout the region to back our commitments to our allies, to protect and work with our partners and to continue ensuring peace and stability in the region.

The Marines will be stationed in Darwin for training for the six months of the Top End's dry season. They are the fourth rotation since former prime minister Julia Gillard and US president Barack Obama struck a deal in 2011 to gradually increase the number of US Marines rotating through Darwin to 2,500 troops by 2017. A small ceremony was held at Darwin Airport with America Galaxy C5 as aircraft carrying CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters from Guam in Central America touched down. "We're coming from all over the globe," Lieutenant Colonel Eric Dougherty of the US Marine Corp said. He described the rotation in which US Marines will live and train at the Australian Defence Force's Robertson Barracks as "unique". "Most places we go to a different country and have our own base there. We're operating inside the base," he said. "But here we're going to be living inside the barracks. "You guys have opened up your homes to us. We're living in your guest house." Lt Col Dougherty said the training opportunities in the Northern Territory were a big drawcard. "You have some world-class training facilities here," he said. "Bradshaw training area (south-west of Darwin) is three times the size of anything we have in the States. "The outback truly is out back, with vast wide open spaces. "There's things we can do here we cannot do back in the States."

The rotation follows speculation the growing US military presence in Darwin could cause tensions with China. Lt Col Dougherty would not comment on what impact another rotation of US Marines would have on relations with China. Last year for the first time Chinese soldiers trained on Australian soil with the Australian Army and US Marines, but Lt Col Dougherty said no training was planned with China on this rotation. He said the Marines were keen to start sporting teams, including trying their hand at rugby union.

Australia has sided with the US in a program of strategic containment of China and Darwin is at the centre of a regional military buildup. But you’ll likely read better coverage of it in China than here. Later this month, as the monsoon subsides and soft mud becomes solid ground, the permanent rotation of US marines through Darwin will enter its next iteration. Another 1,150 marines will arrive in the Top End, bringing with them a plethora of vehicles, weapons and ammunition. In Chinese media, details of the rotation, along with the similarly underreported plans to use the Australian Cocos Islands as a base for American drones, are represented as what they in fact are: clear evidence that Australia is siding with the US in a program of strategic containment of China.

It is unsurprising that Australians are only vaguely aware that the first ever permanent peacetime deployment of foreign troops in the nation’s history is now occurring. The yarns spun by our politicians portray the deployment, which will swell to at least 2,500 marines over the next few years, as doing all things for all people. To our wary southeast Asian neighbours, the rotation is presented as a humanitarian aid and disaster relief operation, ready to spring into action at the first whiff of a meteorological event. Nationally, it is downplayed as a mere “troop rotation” and “interoperability” exercise, an end in itself with no greater military implication. Locally, an upsurge in jobs servicing the American troops is promised, as too is an influx of foreign currency to be spent on entertainment, infrastructure and tourism. Recent news of Chinese military construction in the South China Sea is troubling, but in the context of the unprecedented American regional military expansion that has been occurring for years it is unsurprising. If the Australian government desires to dampen regional tensions, and seek a path different from unquestioning support for the US in a zero-sum confrontation with China, an honest dialogue on how our foreign policy supports the national interest must be undertaken. While the nature and purpose of the Darwin marine rotation remains obscured, the prospects for this are bleak.

Mr Fraser said the larger question before Australians right now is what the country's future will be. The former prime minister's recent book, Dangerous Allies, which won this year's John Button literary prize for political commentary, argues that Australia's close relationship with the United States could lead to conflict with China. "How many politicians talk about that in a realistic sense? There's no direct threat to Australia. We do not need to be a frightened nation," Mr Fraser told AM. "You know, if America goes to war with China because Japan does something stupid – which is the most likely scenario – Australia, at the moment, on current policy settings, does not have the capacity to say 'No'," he said. But Mr Fraser said the situation was no different under the Rudd or Gillard governments. "You can't pick much difference between the political parties," he said.

Julie Bishop said, 'We're going to stand up to China'. What are we standing up to China about? We don't have an argument with China unless they create one.