When historians weigh the legacies of China’s rulers, Mao Zedong inevitably looms as the architect of both revolutionary triumph and catastrophic suffering. Yet in the decades after Mao, China’s leadership sought to avoid repeating his excesses by building collective governance, term limits, and a cautious balance of power. Xi Jinping has not only dismantled those safeguards — he has introduced new instruments of authoritarianism that make him arguably the worst Chinese leader since Mao. His so‑called Unity Law crystallizes this regression, revealing the racial chauvinism and political absolutism at the heart of his rule.
From Post‑Mao Reform to Xi’s Regression.
After Mao’s death, Deng Xiaoping and his successors tried to stabilize China by embedding collective leadership and limiting personal power. Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao were cautious technocrats, presiding over economic growth without dismantling institutional checks. Xi Jinping reversed this trajectory. Term limits abolished in 2018, enabling indefinite rule. Leadership purges sidelined rivals and stacked the Politburo with loyalists. Centralization of authority shifted decision‑making from collective bodies to Xi himself.
This regression is not accidental. Xi has deliberately re‑engineered the system to resemble Mao’s one‑man dominance, but with modern surveillance and propaganda tools.
The Unity Law: Han Chauvinism Codified.
Xi’s Unity Law is framed as a measure to strengthen national cohesion. In reality, it is a legal weapon aimed at minorities inside China and abroad.Targeting Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongols: The law criminalizes expressions of cultural autonomy, branding them as “separatism.”
Diaspora intimidation: Overseas communities are pressured to conform to Beijing’s narrative, extending authoritarian reach beyond borders.
Han chauvinism: By elevating Han identity as the standard of “unity,” the law delegitimizes minority cultures, echoing Mao’s campaigns but with sharper racial undertones. This is not mere authoritarianism; it is racialized authoritarianism. Xi has fused nationalism with ethnic hierarchy, weaponizing law to erase diversity.
Xi’s distinction lies in his ability to cloak repression in legality. Mao’s violence was chaotic and visible; Xi’s repression is codified, bureaucratic, and harder to challenge internationally.
Global Consequences. Human rights erosion:
The Unity Law intensifies surveillance, detention, and cultural erasure.
Diaspora silencing: Tibetans, Uyghurs, and others abroad face intimidation, shrinking the space for exile activism.
International backlash: Ironically, Xi’s law has raised global awareness of China’s racial authoritarianism, uniting critics across democracies.
Xi Jinping’s Unity Law exposes the racial chauvinism underpinning his rule. By dismantling post‑Mao safeguards and codifying Han dominance, Xi has created a system that is more insidious than Mao’s chaos. Mao destroyed through violence; Xi erases through law. In doing so, Xi has positioned himself as the worst recent Chinese leader — not only because he revives Maoist authoritarianism, but because he modernizes it into a durable, racialized autocracy.
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Khedroob Thondup
Khedroob Thondup is the son of Gyalo Thondup, elder brother of the Dalai Lama. Educated at St. Stephens College Delhi University and the University of San Francisco. He was a personal assistant to the Dalai Lama and accompanied him on his first trip to the U.S. in 1979. He was sent by the Dalai Lama to Beijing from 1980 till 1993 for dialogue talks where he interacted with Xi Zhongxun and Hu Jintao. He has served as Member of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile for three terms and is the President of the Tibetan Refugee Self Help Centre Darjeeling since 1987. He has edited two books, Dalai Lama My Son and Tibet in Turmoil and presently lives in Taipei, Taiwan.
