When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US 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, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
