As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
But in the year since the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
