When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
