When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
