When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments 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”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens 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, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
