As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
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 brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
