As China becomes the number one foreign policy priority for the United States, with growing concerns over Beijing’s attempts to destabilize the Indo-Pacific, threaten U.S. interests, and support hostile regimes like Iran and Russia, attention has largely focused on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Chinese dissidents often point to the CCP as the root of China’s authoritarianism, and some even narrow the blame to Xi Jinping personally, suggesting that the regime was more reasonable before his rise to power.
It is true that the CCP, a party responsible for tens of millions of deaths, including some 30 million in a state-induced famine, is currently the principal instrument of oppression in China. However, it would be a mistake to view the problem as limited to communism or the party. The deeper and more enduring threat lies in an ideology deeply embedded in Chinese political culture: the Grand Uniformity (大一統). This mindset transcends party politics and shapes the expansionist ambitions of all Chinese governments, past and present.
The concept of Grand Uniformity refers to a political and cultural ideology that emphasizes centralized rule, cultural homogenization, and territorial unity. Historically, it began with the standardization of writing, currency, and measurements during imperial times, but later evolved into a doctrine justifying colonial expansion and cultural assimilation.
Under this ideology, territories such as Mongolia, East Turkestan (Xinjiang), and Tibet were not only occupied but subjected to forced integration. In the early 20th century, this ideology culminated in the fabrication of a singular “Chinese Nation” (中華民族), a construct of Chinese intellectual Liang Qichao that sought to erase linguistic, religious, and ethnic differences within the empire’s borders, and was one of the first attempts in nation-building thought.
Whether under the Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China, or the People’s Republic of China, the pursuit of this uniformity led to aggressive assimilation policies: banning local languages, crushing religions, and exporting Han settlers to non-Han regions like Tibet and Xinjiang. The term “dialects” was often used to delegitimize distinct languages and cultures, framing them as minor variations rather than independent traditions.
This obsession with sameness continues today. In a 2021 speech marking the CCP’s centenary, Xi Jinping warned that “the Chinese people will never allow foreign forces to bully or oppress us,” and declared that such forces would “crack their heads and spill blood” against the “Great Steel Wall of 1.4 billion people.” This is a vivid expression of the Grand Uniformity mindset. And even if the CCP were to fall, this ideology is likely to endure.
Ironically, the CCP once claimed to oppose this very mindset. In his early revolutionary writings, Mao Zedong proposed dividing China into 27 independent states and voiced support for local autonomy. Yet, once in power, the Communist Party adopted the same imperial logic it claimed to reject.
The CCP continued the policy of imposing simplified Mandarin as the national language. Han settlers were sent en masse to Xinjiang to dilute the Uyghur population. Tibet was invaded. Hong Kong was promised “50 years of no change” after the British ceded control to Beijing in 1997, but the CCP tore up that agreement with the imposition of the 2019 National Security Law. One might think that these are merely CCP policies, but in reality, these are expressions of the deeper drive for the Grand Uniformity.
This ideology has devastated China’s cultural diversity. Entire languages and writing systems have vanished. Mosques and churches have been demolished or turned into propaganda centers adorned with portraits of the CCP leaders. Festivals like the Uyghur Meshrep have been banned. Yet it’s important to keep in mind that religious repression and cultural cleansing long predate the CCP: the Kuomintang committed mass killings in Xinjiang under warlords like Sheng Shicai and Ma Zhongying. Imperial China was similarly expansionist and brutal.
Today’s Chinese education system not only indoctrinates students in Marxist ideology but also reinforces the belief that unification is sacred and inevitable. Taiwan, the South China Sea, Arunachal Pradesh, and the Senkaku Islands are all portrayed as historically Chinese, erasing historical nuance all for the single purpose of justifying dominance under the banner of uniformity.
There is a strategic blind spot in how many Western analysts understand China. They focus on communism and authoritarianism while ignoring the underlying imperial worldview. This is the same error the world made with Russia. After the Soviet Union collapsed, many assumed the threat had vanished. But the problem wasn’t just communism; it was the imperial mentality that remained untouched. Likewise, if the CCP falls, but the ideology of Grand Uniformity remains unchallenged, the threat will persist. Any new regime – liberal, nationalist, or technocratic – could still pursue aggressive expansionism under a different banner.
To effectively counter China’s rise as a global threat, we must look beyond the CCP. The root problem is the imperial logic of Grand Uniformity, which drives cultural genocide, territorial expansion, and global confrontation. As long as that oppressive ideology dominates in China, any regime in Beijing would be just as dangerous.