Sea Powers (Britain, US, Athens) tend to be socially liberal; Land Powers (Russia, Prussia, Sparta, China?) tend to be reactionary & authoritarian. If China had a couple hundred years of seaborne trade to draw upon the world might have a peaceful transition like we had between Britain & the US over the course of WW2. But I suspect we don’t have that kind of time.
“Sea Powers (Britain, US, Athens) tend to be socially liberal...”
I think, in a very broad sense, that is true. But, there are exceptions. For instance, for many years Japan was a sea power, though it concentrated on the Pacific and the southern seas. Japan was the farthest thing from being socially liberal. Also, Spain was a great sea power back in the 15th and 16th centuries, but it was hardly socially liberal.
You left out the Phoenicians. For their time, they were the greatest sea power the world had ever seen up to that point, and for quite some time beyond. They were arguably “socially liberal,” at least for their time.