When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
