They’re referring to the fact that in contemporary discourse ‘Authoritarianism’ is a label applied by the western media to any government that bucks the ‘US led rules based international order’

is ‘Authoritarianism’ a thing? yes, but it has become a thought-terminating cliché and has lost all meaning in modern discourse

I assume you think that China is Authoritarian? I’d probably agree with you, the issue arises when people do not apply the same standards everywhere, is China authoritarian because it surveils its population and imprisons people?

Then why isn’t the US also labelled 'Authoritarian '? it also surveils its population , so much so that they have the highest percentage of its population incarcerated than any other country,

Its forces specifically target ethnic minorities often imprisoning them on spurious chargers , and for political dissention

The US drops 46 bombs a day on average , with a drone program is 90% inaccurate (They imprisoned the whistle-blower who revealed this) alongside other war crimes such as the first time a noble peace prize winner bombed another(Obama, MSF) and sexual abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo

China hasn’t been in a war for 46 years, not to say its perfect my any means it engages in the same severe human rights abuses any large state does and should be condemned for it, but when compared to the very literally Evil Empire than is the the US and its neo-colonialism you can see why people support this state that offers countries a lifeline outside of the usurious IMF world order

So while both states clearly meet the definition of being Authoritarian, one engages in mass killings globally, so you may see why so called Tankies critically support one of these two ‘Authoritarian’ states over the other