Hcss report

26
STRATEGIC MONITOR 2014
‘China’ 
is by far (656 times) the most frequently used term that is associated with our 
‘assertiveness’ basket, ‘Developing’ (233), ‘cooperation’ (185)
43
closely follow, as well 
as ‘peacefully’ (89). The website suggests that it is through 
peaceful development 
and cooperation
that China envisages its growth and its rise as a great world power. 
Therefore, China’s verbal strategy appears more inclusive and non-confrontational, 
seeking external cooperation. Some elements indicate a rather friendly, positive tone 
which has remained constant over time, further confirmed by the presence of ‘efforts’ 
(38) or ‘peacefully developing’ (32), ‘respect’ (30), ‘positive’ (22), ‘understanding’ (21), 
‘pacific’ and ‘sincere’ (11), ‘China seeks harmony’, ‘prosperous’, etc. A good example 
is found in the focus on ‘Syria’ – showing China’s interest in the region and its issues, 
as well as its desire to play a significant role by suggesting that the Syrian conflict 
requires the world’s main powers to take a stance: ‘concern Syria’, ‘interests Syrian 
people’, ‘solution Syrian’. This shows the intention of China to appear as involved, but 
in a peaceful way. In addition, China does not sees itself as the world’s single key 
player as it recognizes the 
importance of ‘mutually beneficial
’ and ‘international/
trilateral cooperation’.
The frequency of verbs such as ‘wanted’ (43) or ‘China wanted’ (40), ‘stated’ (41), 
‘reaffirmed’ (30) connotes 
a rather confident rhetoric
in China’s discourse. This 
confidence also remained consistent over time, which tends to indicate that the 
Chinese confidence may not be as recent as many ‘Western’ scholars claim.
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
2000 2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012 2013
FIGURE 2.16: TOTAL ANNUAL FREQUENCY IN NUMBER OF HITS FOR ALL KEY WORDS GENERATED BY THE QUERY FOR 
CHINESE OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. NUMBER OF DOCUMENTS MATCHED: 146. TOTAL NUMBER OF DOCUMENTS IN ENGLISH: 
11587

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