As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
