The United States Under the New Administration Feels Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from China

When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”

Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.

However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”

Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.

However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.

“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”

The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad