When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not just considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
However after 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 in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US'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 investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
