When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year since the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
