President Xi’s “Chinese Dream”

For ordinary Chinese citizens, political reform is an important step to achieve their “Chinese dream”. It is only a matter of time until the leadership faces the challenge and takes significant steps to meet global standards.

Yu Xichao│yuxichao@yahoo.com.au

China successfully completed its leadership transition to the “fifth generation” in the recent Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “Two Sessions”[1]. The meeting formally appointed Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang as the new President and Premier of the People’s Republic of China. Thus, Xi became the most influential man in the world’s most populous nation, and he will govern this huge, complex and increasingly powerful state for the next ten years. In the conclusion of his speech to the National People’s Congress (NPC), he urged the nation to pursue and achieve the “Chinese dream”.

So, naturally, the question everyone is asking is what is the “Chinese dream”? And how can it be achieved?

President Xi said “The Chinese dream is a dream of the whole nation as well as of every individual”. According to Xi, the “Chinese dream” is based on two levels: the national level and the individual level.

On the national level, the new government promises to strive for “great renaissance” by making the country militarily and economically strong without seeking “hegemony”. China, under the previous Hu-Wen leadership, accomplished the so-called “economic miracle” with an average of nearly 10% GDP growth annually. A long period of “peaceful rise” resulted in China’s global-power status. Now, China plays a significant role in shaping the global political and economic order. Meanwhile, China is also demonstrating more confidence in its foreign policies.

China’s remarkable economic growth benefited from Deng’s “Reform and Opening up” policy of 1978. Xi confirmed Deng’s economic reform as essential to the achievement of the “Chinese dream” and thus stressed the importance of continued economic development.

Fuguo Qiangbing (literally meaning “To enrich the country, strengthen the military”) is an ancient Chinese wisdom, originated about 2,500 years ago, which hints that growing economic power should necessarily be accompanied by growing military strength. So, Xi urged China’s military to improve its ability to “win battles and… protect national sovereignty and security”. Xi’s words have realistic meaning, implying the emerging challenges in today’s surrounding environment of China, in particular the escalation of tensions with Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines over territorial disputes.

As China becomes stronger, it does not mean that China will seek hegemony. The concepts of Confucianism are deeply rooted in Chinese society, whose virtue of peacefulness is strongly embedded into Chinese culture. Nevertheless, China’s bitter experience in the modern period, particularly after the Opium War of 1840, has proven that the country needs a powerful military strength to protect itself from external forces that it does not desire.

China’s rise is based on its peaceful development policy. So, there is an unwavering commitment to continue this policy and to benefit from it. Meanwhile, Chinese leaders have continued to stress the country’s unshakable commitment to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The “Chinese dream” and “great renaissance of the Chinese nation” cannot be achieved if they cannot protect the country they live in.

In terms of the “Chinese dream” on the individual level, Xi promised to incessantly bring benefits to the Chinese people. It is true that Hu-Wen’s government achieved remarkable economic success, but the majority of Chinese citizens have not yet enjoyed the benefits of their country’s economic development. It is only the ruling elites and interest groups that have benefited from the economic accomplishment that every Chinese citizen participated in.

Meanwhile, many social problems have emerged, threatening the stability of society. The environmental crisis,  the wealth gap between the elite and the poor majority, food safety, and corruption have become real, urgent social issues. Under these circumstances, many Chinese people have reason to believe that their living conditions are getting worse.

As the new leader of this fast-changing state, Xi understands these difficult challenges within society. Therefore, he proclaimed that “the Chinese dream, after all, is the dream of the people”. Thus, “all Chinese people deserve equal opportunities to enjoy a prosperous life, to see their dreams come true and to benefit together from the country’s development”.

In reality, Chinese people are well aware that their country’s political development is far behind its  economic development. They have been calling on their new leaders to bring about political and social reforms to meet global standards, especially in the fields of democratization and freedom.

Every political reform is risky and needs a strong and powerful leader to implement it, especially in the case of China because it could involve conflict with vast interest groups. No doubt, there will be far-reaching consequences and billions of people’s lives will be affected.

For ordinary Chinese citizens, political reform is an important step to achieve their “Chinese dream”. It is only a matter of time until the leadership faces the challenge and takes significant steps to meet global standards.

Now, China is also facing historical change. The question is: will President Xi successfully lead the nation to achieve the “Chinese dream”?