As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs 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 US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
