When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year since the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers 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 cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“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, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
