As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not only considering what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – 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 seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
