When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
