Your reading of 1984 is a bit shallow.. It was a warning against censorship in the UK as well. (And honestly I think the authoritarian state of 1984 is just a setting, I think Orwell's main point was we shouldn't give into extremism of any form, otherwise we lose our humanism.)

Orwell has been quoted that Animal Farm was a also a critique of capitalism, in favor of democratic socialism.

You also say GP is naive about China. But China has been actually less oppressive as time goes along. In fact, historically, authoritarian states often become less oppressive without foreign interference (my home country, Czechoslovakia, was on path towards democratic socialism in the 1960s, unfortunately, it was reversed for geopolitical reasons; such has been experience of many American client states as well). (And you also have liberal states becoming more authoritarian on their own, we can see that in the western world, due to concentration of wealth.)

This indicates there is no "natural law" that makes things more (or less) authoritarian. It depends on people pursuing politics, and being informed.