When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year after the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump 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 through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable 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 investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
