As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, having fled the country because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom 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.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, 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 reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
