When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, 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 steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
