When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope 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 shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into 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 while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. 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
