The United States Under the New Administration Seems Oddly Recognizable to Observers from China

When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.

But over the past year since the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her fears reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. 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 the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.

However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

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

Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.

“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”

“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad