"I don't criticise the administration directly, she said. Or if she does, she makes sure it's not recorded for social media. I would never publicly publish something where I directly criticise the government I think it's a learned behaviour from China. Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025 she relocated to the US."
"In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands. Wang's fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese people, or people who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked. Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China's strongman leader."
"As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around."
Vickie Wang, a 39-year-old comedian who lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade and relocated to the US in 2025, practices self-censorship learned in China, avoiding direct public criticism of government and social-media recordings. After arriving in the US she embraced democratic activities but now perceives a shifting atmosphere since Trump's 2025 election, with enemies ostracised, demands for absolute loyalty, journalists targeted and institutions attacked. Trump has expressed admiration for Xi Jinping and struck a temporary truce in the trade war, displaying bonhomie between leaders. Observers warn the US appears to be pulled toward Chinese-style authoritarian dynamics, mobilising grassroots to sideline elites.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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