When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
