When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, 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 – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
