The United States During the New Administration Feels Strangely Familiar to Observers from China

When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”

The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.

However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”

Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.

But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”

The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.

Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad