As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost 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 freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, 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 for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
