Contending Illiberalisms in the People’s Republic of China

Abstract After 1976, the autocratic Chinese party-state introduced economic reforms and mechanisms of “ruling the country in accordance with law” (yi fa zhi guo) that reflected the limited official recognition of liberal legal principles and prompted limited toleration of some freedoms. However, the Chinese leadership has since attempted autocratic reclosure, characterized by intensified domestic and transnational repression. This paper argues that the sovereigntist and anti-pluralist justification narratives advanced by China’s “New Left” (xin zuo pai) in support of changes to the Chinese party-state system under Xi Jinping are a form of droitisation “in the mirror.” These narratives echo and amplify illiberal and anti-globalist discourses directed against a world order supposedly dominated by “the West.” However, some of the views of a global populist and libertarian right wing are also being absorbed by persecuted oppositional groups within China. Together, these shifts weaken liberalism in China and strengthen illiberalism at a global level.