Socio-personal

Healthcare. How to restructure China's healthcare system, providing all citizens with competent, contemporary medical services? How to redress gross disparities between urban and rural healthcare? How to curtail systemic corruption?

Education. How to provide quality education for all citizens, reducing severe imbalances between urban and rural schooling? How to rethink traditional Chinese education, which focuses on standardized tests, so that students may be prepared for contemporary society where knowledge creation and social sensitivities predominate?

Housing. How to provide adequate housing at affordable prices? How to prevent housing prices from rising so high that young people cannot afford them - but to do so without undercutting property markets (on which local governments and banks depend)?

Retirement. How to give confidence to citizens that they will have adequate funds for their senior years? (Only then will people spend on current consumption.)

Food safety. How to make sure that China's food supply is safe? How to assure food quality and restore public confidence?

Values and morals. China's values were long based on Confucian ethics, until extreme leftism repudiated them. Now the market economy rewards individual initiative. What values should shape today's China? What about the resurgence of religion?

Governance and democracy

Constitution and rule of law. How to establish the overarching, adjudicating power of China's Constitution? How to make the rule of law supreme? How to bring about an independent judiciary?

Government and Party leadership. How to build transparency, accountability and checks and balances into China's system of governance? How to transfer some processes and mechanisms of governance to broader segments of society?

Public information and national security. How to balance national security and the public's right to know? For example, should environmental data be "state secrets"?

Corruption. How to reduce graft, bribery, fraud and other malfeasances - especially when massive and sudden wealth creation is facilitated by officials unfettered by checks and balances? How to engage the power of the press and new media to root out corruption?

Media and new media. How to encourage individual freedom of expression without undermining collective stability? How to mobilize the power of the people for the good of the country?

Non-government organizations. What is the evolving role of NGOs, such as environmental advocacy groups, in handling complex issues? What about labor unions (heretofore a contradiction in a nominally Communist system)?

Democracy. How to build democracy so that citizens are enabled to participate in the process of governance? How can the transforming power of social media be channeled to promote a democracy that works?

Human rights. How to protect individual human rights while continuing to privilege the collective rights of the large majority? How to make human rights a priority in China?

International affairs

Sovereignty and relations with neighbors. How can China balance its claims of sovereignty - such as in the South China Sea, which are sacrosanct in China but disputed outside of China - with complex global interrelationships?

US-China relations. What steps can each side take to assure the other side that its vital interests are protected, thus encouraging positive relations. (Prototype: Cooperation at the UN on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.)

Bilateral relations. How does China balance its diverse relations with various countries? Consider Russia, Europe, Japan, India, the two Koreas, Vietnam, Brazil and Saudi Arabia.

Global responsibilities. How can China take on greater global duties even while it faces serious domestic problems? How to assure foreigners that China plays by the rules of international norms? How to deal with isolated states, like the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Iran? How to support international peace and prosperity?

China's emergence

Civilization and culture. How can China's culture participate fully in the world's marketplace of ideas and values?

Science and technology. How can China's science and technology contribute to world civilization as well as drive domestic transformation? How to facilitate greater creativity and innovation?

Corporate international expansion. How can Chinese companies going abroad enhance China's engagement with the world? How to reduce foreign fears of China's growing economic power?

Military modernization. What are the implications of China's expanding military capabilities? How to reassure nations that are growing wary of China's military might?

Global voice. How can China help set the world's agenda, along with the US and other powers, especially in terms of politics and economics? How can China's international media (CCTV, Xinhua, China Daily) have global impact?

I know that China's core leadership - President Xi and Premier Li - appreciate these challenges. With their administration set for a decade, continuity of policy is assured.

For Xi, a sober realization of reality is not a recent revelation. In 2006, I met then Zhejiang Party Secretary Xi, who stressed that pride in China's recent achievements should not engender complacency: "Compared with our long history, our speed of development is not so impressive. We need to assess ourselves objectively," he stressed. "But no matter what, China's development is driven by patriotism and pride."

The author is an international corporate strategist advising multinationals on doing business in China. A longtime counselor to China's leaders, he is the author of How China's Leaders Think, featuring China's new leaders. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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(China Daily 03/22/2013 page8)