Two sessions to help China define and fulfill its dream

When President Xi Jinping articulated his vision of a Chinese dream, many both within China and around the world watched closely to see if and how vision would translate into action. The March meetings of the NPC and CPPCC are the latest iterations of what has been an impressive list of goals and supporting action plans designed to make the Chinese Dream a reality and show how the expectations can be achieved.

As most readers who have studied goal setting will know, to be effective, goals must be "SMART." This means they have to be specific, measurable, achievable, and realistic and have a time frame for their achievement. The planning, dialogue and actionable steps required for Chinese Dream will be the focus of discussion at the on-going meetings. The panel discussions involved in these meetings will move forward comprehensive reforms covering economic, legal, political, social, educational and cultural initiatives to bring about transformational change.

These meetings build upon an already impressive list of announced and ongoing reforms. These goals have included a renewed stress on the rule of law and need for all organizations to abide by China's constitution, greater independence for the judiciary, renewed efforts to fight corruption at all levels (targeting both "tigers and flies"), greater reliance on the market to determine the best and most efficient allocation of resources, continued economic growth and development, including a greater opening up of China, for example, by establishment of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, promotion of research in key areas such as nanotechnology, renewable energy and telecommunications, continued enhancement of China's infrastructure, and the continued growth and development of China's e-commerce potential.

A memorable milestone that shows that China is on track to achieve its dream is the recent announcement that China has surpassed the United States to become the leading trading nation in the world. This represents a major step in meeting the two "100" goals spoken of by President Xi: "to be a moderately well off society" by 2021 which is the 100th anniversary of foundation of the Chinese Communist Party and to be a fully developed nation by 2049, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

In pursuing the Chinese Dream, it is important that government leads by example. Consequently we have seen an emphasis on government reform to promote a culture of service as opposed to privilege, to be transparent and fair, and responsive to the needs of the people.