When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
However in the year since the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” 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 parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
