As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year after the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be 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.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
