He says one way for Chinese companies to go global is by mergers and acquisitions, and one of the early pioneers was Lenovo Group Ltd buying IBM Corp's personal computer business in 2005. Heimowitz at Hill & Knowlton was a public relations adviser for Lenovo.

"I come from a merger and acquisition background, and I think it is in this area that some aspects of the dream can be fulfilled. What you have to do is remove the fear that might exist in, say, Europe about being taken over by a Chinese company," he says.

"This will diminish over time as more and more deals are done and China becomes more familiar with Western business practices and customers. Where you want to arrive at though is a position where having a Chinese boss is no different from having any other kind of boss."

Heimowitz believes that for China to achieve the dream it needs to improve its soft power.

"I feel that America has been the past master of exercising soft power on a global arena, but to some extent its prowess is receding, and that has opened up a vacuum.

"If China is going to step into that space it needs to learn how to nuance soft power and promote itself in a softer light. If it can do that it will be an important step on the way to realizing its dream."