Chinese Dream Is Asian Dream

In the strategic chessboard of international power politics, China occupies a lion’s share, due mainly to its long civilization and economic power accompanied by growing international clout. When the sleeping dragon, the inference most Western media like to make when it comes to calling China, wags its tail or wakes up, the world trembles, sometimes on a scale of tectonic magnitude.

China’s present miraculous peaceful rise and its further march to prosperity to become the world’s dominant power are a case in point. The world is reacting in different tones and tenors to China’s rise and its future vision of national development and international cooperation. While much of its neighbourhood and the developing world are enthusiastic and optimistic about China’s peaceful rise, the western world appears to be highly sceptical.

Chinese Dream
This is exactly what has happened after Xi Jinping, on assuming China’s leadership, put forth the idea of the Chinese Dream - a strategic vision to rejuvenate the Chinese nation and its glorious past marked by rich cultural and social values that are more humane in nature. On the domestic front, the Chinese Dream mainly aims at ensuring China’s national strength in more visible and practical terms, moderate prosperity and a happier people, rejuvenation of the great Chinese nation, sustainable economic growth and deepening reforms.
At the international level, the Chinese Dream seeks to foster greater cooperation among the comity of nations for a just and peaceful world on the basis of shared values and mutual equality. In other words, the Chinese Dream is being viewed in the international arena, especially in the Asian neighbourhood, as a proposition through which China is seeking its role and responsibility to contribute to world peace and development through mutual cooperation.  The Chinese Dream is, hence, a win-win proposition for the world, especially its Asian neighbours.

China has always had a dream for itself and for the world. Mao Zedong, who led the Chinese Revolution and established the People’s Republic of China in 1949, had his own vision and dream for China and the world. After the success of the Chinese Revolution, Mao had declared, “The Chinese people have stood up,” which is an assertion of the Chinese vision of its leadership role in changing both China and the world.

Similarly, Deng Xiaoping, after coming to power  in the mid-70s, rolled out a new vision, that of opening up China for reforms, which is also a dream of a better and prosperous China and a more harmonious and cooperative world. Based on Mao and Deng’s vision, President Xi has come up with the Chinese Dream purportedly to raise the living standard of the Chinese people at par with international standards, and develop china as a strong, stable, peaceful and more assertive nation both at home and abroad.

In other words, the Chinese Dream is a renaissance that seeks to rebuild the Chinese nation, revitalise its glorious history and culture, and reorient its domestic and international policy to achieving the goals set forth for the larger prosperity of humanity.

A strong China means a strong nation, politically, socially, economically and militarily, while a stable China denotes self-confidence in its strength to be able to ensure peace, tranquility and harmony and also freedom from any kind of fear and want. This vision can be ensured only when the people’s living standards rise, which is also a basis for amity and harmony among the people, irrespective of their ethnicity and social standing.

While the rest of the world has taken the Chinese Dream as a win-win proposition, some Western media have called it a counter proposition of what Washington had come up long ago dubbed as the American Dream. On the surface, definitely the Chinese Dream was announced long after Washington had declared the American Dream. But if one were to look back at history, it is China that had conjured up the Chinese Dream almost 200 years ago, when Confucius had conceived the dream of a harmonious and prosperous Chinese society. This was reinforced by Sun Yat-sen under the concept of the ‘three principles of the people’. 

The Chinese Dream, therefore, cannot be called a counter proposition of Washington’s American Dream. Instead, it is China’s original concept and vision that had long remained dormant until it was revived by President Xi Jinping last year.

History is witness that China has always been powerful and a giant except during the short period immediately before the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Regardless of whether China was rising or declining, it was a power with a dream for itself and the world.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese people discovered a new and more constructive path to realise the dream China had long cherished. At the 8th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the founder of modern China, or Mao, unveiled a plan for China's revival, reconstruction and also for reshaping the world order.
Mao put forward the "China contribution theory," under which China planned to make a relatively large contribution to human progress in the 21st century and build peace at home and abroad. By the end of the 1970s, the Chinese Communist Party had almost completed the process of transforming China from a traditional country into a modern one by establishing an independent and comprehensive economic and industrial foundation for modernisation and laid the basic groundwork for reforms.
 After introducing reforms in China, Deng Xiaoping, too, forwarded the Chinese Dream for a moderately prosperous society. Details about the three strategic steps to realise this Chinese Dream were spelled out at the 13th CPC National Congress in 1987. Guided by these strategic ideals, the CPC s adopted a roadmap for modernization through socialism with Chinese characteristics and achieved its goal of rapid development.
By the end of the 20th century, or within 22 years since the reforms were introduced, China had already attained the goal set forth for the first two steps, which included building a strong China and ensuring a moderately prosperous life of the people.
Right from the beginning of the 21^st century, China has been firmly marching ahead on the path of realising the Chinese Dream which has been divided into three phases. The first phase is to complete building a moderately prosperous society in all respects by the CPC's centennial anniversary in 2021. With this goal in the core of the mind of all the Chinese leaders, the Chinese Communist Party, at its 18th National Congress in 2012, adopted the policy and programmes to further pursue reforms in five key sectors covering the political, economic, social, cultural and environmental areas.
The goal for the second phase is to realise socialist modernisation with Chinese characteristics by the centennial anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China or by 2049. The goal for the third phase is to realise the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation step by step until the end of the 21st century.
The Chinese Dream is not merely a pet project of President Xi Jinping. It is a historic mission that aims not only to build China as a strong and stable country and ensure greater prosperity for its people but also to foster greater international cooperation in general and more meaningful and constructive collaboration in the neighbourhood, in particular.
It is with this purpose in mind that China has been pursuing its policy all over the world, especially in the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America on a win-win basis. More emphasis has been laid in East Asia to begin with, and has taken special initiatives to create an East Asian Community with plans to go beyond to include South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia.
Asian Dream
Since the 21^st century has been being predicted as the Asian century, China is determined to lead the Asian century and unite Asia on a single platform to sustain Asia’s growth and development as well as to ensure that its prosperity is shared by all Asian countries and people, regardless of their size, economic power and military strength. This is the Chinese Dream. Thus, it is not merely a vision for China’s own development but also a grand strategy for the greater and mutual benefit of all Asian countries and communities. As such, the Chinese Dream is the Asian Dream, which is expected to ultimately become the global dream.