When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she said, adding 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 Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
