When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “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 investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis 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 shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
