1. Generally speaking, the difference between a white paper and a blue paper is that they are issued by different organizations. The white paper is a normative report formulated and implemented by the official. The blue book is a comprehensive research report completed by a third party.
2. The white paper was originally named because the paper used for the cover and text of the book were both white. It is mainly an official report on major affairs issued by various governments. The white paper has become an internationally recognized formal official document. Blue books usually represent the views of scholars or the academic views of the research team.
3. However, this is not absolute. Documents in each country have their usual colors. The cover is white, which is called a white paper, such as China and the United States; the cover is blue, which is called a blue book, such as the United Kingdom; it is also available in red (such as Spain), yellow (such as France) or green (such as France). Such as Italy), they are called Red Book, Yellow Book and Green Book respectively. In fact, a country can use a variety of document cover colors. For example, Japan's annual defense report uses a white paper, which is called a defense white paper, while its diplomatic annual report uses a blue paper, which is called a diplomatic blue paper.