When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
