When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
