When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year after the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
