As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
