When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
