As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
