As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
But in the year after the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, 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 America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
