When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of 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, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
