When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However over the past year after the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
