NEW YORK, Dec. 13 -- The "Chinese Dream" is brought up for increasing the quality of people's life, said Stephen Orlins, president of the National Committee on United States-China Relations.

What concerns the Chinese leaders for the moment is feeding, housing and educating their people, as well as giving them good health care and higher living standard, he said.

Orlins explained that China has reached a point where it needs to be aspirational, since the changes in the country over the past decades are impossibly extraordinary.

"Dream is aspirational, is inspirational, is to bring people together to share a vision for the future," he said.

Orlins disagreed with the critique that the "Chinese dream" is set to make China overtake the United States and become the No.1 country in the world.

"It's never what any Chinese leader has said to me, nor do I ever hear that," he said. "They worry about how they are going to deal with their problems. And that is the overwhelming focus of Chinese leaders at every level."

He argued the idea stems from a lack of understanding what is really going on in China, saying though many parts of China has reached the "first-world" level, like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, poverty still exists in some areas.

"When you have a country as large and complex as China is, your focus is not outward, your focus is inward," he said.

Orlins also related the "Chinese Dream" to the American dream of building a peaceful, equal and more prosperous society brought up by Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy.

He said many dreams are almost the same, which aims to improve people's well-being.

Orlins said China should link the "Chinese Dream" to issues concerning the whole world, including terrorism, financial crisis and climate change.

He also suggested that the United States and China should build an even closer relationship to deal with these issues.

"If the United States and China can find ways to combat these issues, I think the other issues will become much less important," he said.

Over the past four decades, Orlins has served in the Office of the Legal Advisor of the U.S. Department of State and has been involved in various businesses with Asia.