As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into 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 many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
