When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
