Three Represents


The Three Represents, officially the Theory of Three Represents, is a political doctrine that defines the role of the Chinese Communist Party in Chinese society. It legitimized the entry of private business owners and bourgeois elements into the CCP.
The theory was first introduced by Jiang Zemin—then the General Secretary of the CCP—on 25 February 2000, while he was on the inspection tour in Gaozhou, Guangdong. During Jiang's leadership, the Three Represents was officially described as the "Marxism for contemporary China" and the development of Marxism–Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory. The theory was ratified by the party at the 16th Party Congress in November 2002. It was also written to the Chinese Constitution on March 14, 2004.
The doctrine led to a co-optation strategy by the CCP in order to integrate elites, such as entrepreneurs with skilled expertise, into the CCP. This strategy has been seen as essential to win the support of the economic and political elites, as well as crucial for the party's long-term survival and success in promoting economic modernization.

History and development

The origins of the People's Republic of China's transition to a more open and modern country dates back to the late-1970s, after the death of Mao Zedong. The reform and opening up led by Deng Xiaoping in 1978 kickstarted the shift of the CCP from the traditional Maoism ideology towards a socialist market-oriented approach. These reforms have led to the opening up of both the state-owned and private economic sectors and have been imperative to advancing China's stagnated economy. However, the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre were a major setback to these economic reforms. In these protests, thousands of students called for greater freedom of speech, more economic freedom, and stricter curbs on corruption.
The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre were seen by many Chinese businessmen and women as a symbol of change - these protests have changed the way economic and political elites perceive themselves and their role in the political discourse. This serves as a reminder for the CCP that businesspeople have the potential to generate democratization movements that may threaten the regime. As a result, the CCP banned businesspeople from joining the party, which led to a setback of the co-optation strategy from the late 1980s to early 1990s.
Following the tenure of Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin articulated a new theory to define the new relationship between the party and the people, which is named Three Represents. The Three Represents was devised by a small team including the political theorist Wang Huning. Jiang first delivered a speech about the Three Represents on 25 February 2000 during a symposium on party building in Guangzhou. It brought wide attention and many interpretations of the meaning of the speech. This political theory informs the CCP's co-optation strategy and shows the CCP's desire to bring economic and political elites into the party because they have the skills party leaders need in order to accomplish their policy agenda of economic modernization.
The Three Represents results from Jiang Zemin's efforts to grapple with the diverse class backgrounds of party members and their sometimes conflicting material interests. Based on Mao's premise that the Communist Party should serve the people, it became important as China's private sector grew to bring "worthy people from all sectors who are loyal to the motherland and to socialism" into the Party.
In Jiang's speech on the Three Represents on the 80th anniversary of the founding of the CCP in 2001, he claimed that the expansion of "working class" would help the party remain advanced as the vanguard of the working class by expanding its popular support and increasing its social influence. Jiang made a statement on the concept of the working class that it includes intellectuals:
"With intellectuals being part of the working class, the scientific, technical and educational level of the working class has been raised considerably... Consequently some workers have changed their jobs. But this has not changed the status of the Chinese working class. On the contrary, this will serve to improve the overall quality of the working class and give play to its advantages as a group in the long run. The Chinese working class has always been the basic force for promoting the advanced productive forces in China. Our Party must remain the vanguard of the working class and unswervingly and wholeheartedly rely on the working class."
The Three Represents were written into the CCP constitution to be part of CCP's guiding ideology during the 16th Party National Congress in November 2002. It was also written to the Chinese Constitution on March 14, 2004.

Content

The theory requires the CCP to:
  1. Represent the development trend of China's advanced productive forces.
  2. Represent the orientation of China's advanced culture.
  3. Represent the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people.
In this context, to "represent" means to incorporate.

Rationale

The CCP's strategy to maintain regime stability includes the co-optation of economic and political elites. Bruce J. Dickson, a prominent scholar in academic research on political change in China, theorizes two main reasons why the CCP has adopted this co-optation strategy.
The first main reason, Dickson argues, is that entrepreneurs and the economic elite have benefitted the People's Republic of China by creating new jobs, leading to greater prosperity across China. By co-opting Chinese businessmen and women into the CCP, the CCP by default becomes connected to the architects of China's growing economy and thus linked to those who are needed to continue this economic growth. Dickson argues that China's increasing prosperity is the "main source of the CCP's contemporary claim to legitimate rule", and therefore, it is through maintaining this increase in prosperity that the CCP can ensure its own survival. In other words, the co-optation of the economic elite is necessary to promote economic modernization and increasing prosperity, which fuels the CCP's political legitimacy. The second main reason is that by co-opting economic elites into the CCP, the party can "pre-empt efforts by these new elites either to form their own groups in opposition to the Party or to align with other regime opponents". The CCP were concerned that if the economic elites continued to be excluded from the CCP, they might organize against the party, with their growing economic power and resources translating into significant political clout.
Shabrina and Winarsih argue a third reason for the CCP's adoption of the co-optation strategy – the CCP's desire for party leadership and membership to represent the large majority of Chinese people. As China's middle class began to grow exponentially at the start of the 21st century, the CCP determined it was important not to exclude or marginalize this growing social class from CCP activities and instead decided to involve economic elites in various political processes. The CCP's desire to represent the interests of the majority of Chinese people is shown through Jiang Zemin's Three Represents slogan; a redefinition of the CCP's relationship with Chinese society in which the Party claims to represent not only the proletariat, but also society's "advanced productive forces", which is referring to "the growing urban middle class of businesspeople, professionals, and high-tech specialists".

Implementation

The CCP has utilized a dual approach in co-opting the business sector within its political control. This includes both entrepreneurs joining the Party as members and legislators, as well as the CCP itself forming organizations within private enterprises to oversee its internal actions. The CCP does this not only to prevent any sort of alternative power center but to also glean important insight and support from business leaders in China. This model can be described as 'state corporatism', geared towards extending control as opposed to a need to balance interests.
Motivating the entrepreneurial class to be incorporated within the party is both self-interest and fear. By being a part of the CCP, the business community can benefit from state support. The state's complete authority within the economy necessitates friendly relations to ensure smooth functioning of their economic interests. The CCP also uses its controlling levers to force business leaders and enterprises to follow the party line. After Jack Ma of Alibaba openly criticized state control of the banking sector at the Shanghai Bund Summit in October 2020, China's market regulator announced the launch of an antitrust inquiry into Alibaba. This has repeated with the former chairman of the Anbang Insurance group, Wu Xiahao, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for criticizing the CCP. Ye Jianming of CEFC China Energy was also detained in 2014. These moves show the CCP's capacity and incentive to target those critical of its regime.
Since the policy shift under Jiang Zemin, the PRC has been incorporating business leaders into the membership of the party. This creates "ties to wealthy and successful entrepreneurs". Economic and political elites may serve in internal committees or even "serve as delegates in legislative congresses", bringing their experience and expertise to strengthen CCP functioning and administration. Within the CCP, licensed associations for independent entrepreneurs have also been created, which coordinate actions between entrepreneurs and members of the CCP. New committees within the CCP have also been created to cater for a specific function that the Party requires. These groups are managed by "officials from the party" to ensure that entrepreneurs follow Party guidelines and do not stray from CCP ideology.
The CCP also creates branches within private enterprises to supervise their actions and ensure total authority. In March 2012, CCP general secretary Xi Jinping issued an official document, directing the party to "comprehensively cover" private enterprise, in line with the 1993 Company Law of the People's Republic of China that requires all companies to host CCP units within their administration. CCP penetration into the private sector has increased as China's economy continues to grow, with "92% of China's top 500 private enterprises" hosting party cells within their company. The CCP gives greater attention to these large firms, providing "full-time secretaries and party workers" that oversee company decisions and governance. These cells ensure that enterprises follow guidelines, laws, and regulations while also ensuring that their personnel are regularly taught Party positions and ideology.