When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However in the year after the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people 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 espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
