When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, 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 a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “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, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
