When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said 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 risky. However, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
