When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, 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 attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, 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 noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
