As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
