When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year after the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
