As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year since the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
