As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring 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. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives 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 could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol 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 America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
