When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions 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 perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
