As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
