When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
