When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
