When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
But in the year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed 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 significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
