When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than 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 rally the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer 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 since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
