As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain 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 demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
