By Khedroob Thondup

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 crystallises 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 stabilise China by embedding collective leadership and limiting personal power. Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao were cautious technocrats w...