As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
But in the year since the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
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 correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
