Hcss report

verbally accuses, protests or defends its interests. 
Authors noticed such 
attitudes throughout 2010 and vis-à-vis the US, with Chinese “angry reactions to US 
arms sales to Taiwan in January”, or to the visit of the Dalai Lama to the US.
76
Johnston 
(2013) emphasizes that China still 
overtly exerts pressures
on governments of North 
Korea and Sudan.
77
In April 2012, China accused Japan of “nationalization of sacred 
Chinese land”, after Tokyo’s governor Shintaro Ishihara announced the plans to 
purchase three of Senkaku’s private islands.
78
Another field in which such level and tone of assertiveness is expressed, is the 
cyber 
domain
. The official rhetoric of China in 2013 has been to 
deny responsibility
for 
cyber espionage, or to assert that China would be a victim of cyber attacks itself.
79
Factual Evidence
Events in diplomacy reflecting China’s assertiveness have been 
mostly positive or 
neutral. 
According to Glasser (2013), China traditionally uses the military as a secret 
political weapon in diplomatic relations (Clausewitz). It indeed primarily focuses on 
many of the 
different levels of cooperation.
As previously mentioned, economic cooperation has recently emerged as one of the 
many diplomatic instruments used by China.
80
Cultural projection
is at the heart of 
China’s diplomatic assertiveness. Since 2004, the country has sought to promote or 
even spread its culture and language, thus cultivating its soft power. China started the 
Confucius Institute project: by 2012, there were 400 institutes in over 50 countries.
81
Diplomatic cooperation finds many other positive or neutral illustrations, with 
China’s 
increasingly active and visible attitude
in regional forums aimed at strengthening 
its influence and cultivating its soft power.
82
China made several significant steps in 
this direction over the last decade. In 2001, China 
voted in favor
of four UN Security 
Council resolutions dealing with Afghanistan and global counterterrorism efforts.
83
2013 saw the formation of a US-China cyber security working group, and it was also 
the year China signed the UN Disarmament and International Security Committee.
84
China also