As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year after the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens 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, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
