When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable 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 improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
