As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on 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 presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
