When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
