As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of 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, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
