Hcss report

factual (red and blue) and rhetorical (green and taupe)
military assertiveness. This 
suggests an increasing discrepancy between what is being said and what is being 
done in reality: even if China may not talk the talk, it does seem to be walking the 
walk of military assertiveness. If we zoom in on the 
positive or neutral 
military 
assertiveness, we see that the factual subtype (blue) scores much higher than the 
rhetorical one (the taupe – virtually consistently the lowest). The same is true for the 
negative subtypes
, where the factual (red – currently the highest) type is also 
consistently higher than the rhetorical one (green). The most striking finding here is 
the steep increase (almost doubling) in actual negative military behavior, which 
certainly appears to confirm the many claims that have recently been made in this 
regard.
Positive, neutral, or negative
 factual types (red and blue) 
of military assertiveness 
are generally more observed than the rhetorical types. The positive/neutral factual 
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
Level 3 (P/NRM)
Level -3 (NRM)
Level -6 (NFM)
Level 6 (P/NFM)
FIGURE 2.12: LEVELS AND TONES OF CHINESE MILITARY ASSERTIVENESS IN % OF REPORTED TOTAL FOR FOREIGN ACTION, 
09/2003 – 08/2013. P/NRM: POSITIVE OR NEUTRAL RHETORICAL MILITARY ASSERTIVENESS; P/NFM: POSITIVE OR NEUTRAL 
FACTUAL MILITARY ASSERTIVENESS; NRM: NEGATIVE RHETORICAL MILITARY ASSERTIVENESS; NFM: NEGATIVE FACTUAL 
MILITARY ASSERTIVENESS

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HCSS REPORT
21
(blue) type strongly peaks in the second half of 2005, around August and September 
– during the first Sino-Russian military exercise Peace Mission 2005, and the visit of 
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The