When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
