Hcss report

HCSS REPORT
19
FIGURE 2.11: TYPES OF CHINESE ASSERTIVENESS IN % OF REPORTED TOTAL FOR FOREIGN ACTION, 09/2003 – 08/2013
The 
‘diplomatic type’ of assertiveness 
started at a much higher level than the other 
two and kept rising over time, with many peaks each year from 2006 onwards. 
Excluding the hike in January 2012, some stabilization can be observed since 2008. 
Two important peaks are identified around August 2007 and May 2008. They can be 
associated with a rising activism of China in asserting territorial claims in the South 
China Sea. 
Both economic and military assertiveness have increased more strongly over time 
than the diplomatic type, but they have not fully caught up. Data for 
economic 
assertiveness
reveal a steep increase between 2006 and 2008 (with a peak in May 
and September 2008 at the heart of the economic crisis), before first stabilizing 
somewhat and then increasing again ever since. Another spike appears in 2010, as 
China overtakes Japan as the world’s second biggest economy.
These tensions correspond to the period where new 
‘military’ peaks
occurred – 
throughout 2008, as well as around September 2009, September 2010 and May 2012.
0
0.04
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
0.08
0.12
0.16
0.02
0.06
0.10
0.14
% of total r
eported 
fo
re
ign action
Linear
Linear
Linear
Diplomatic
Economic
Military

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20
STRATEGIC MONITOR 2014
Military Assertiveness: Levels and Trends
Across China’s levels of military assertiveness, there is a 
growing gap between