Ok, so you remember in about 1950 when we extended containment to include the entire Sino-Soviet alliance once Nationalist China fell? Also Communist, the domino theory in SEA, etc.

All those mechanisms put in place, our support to S. Korea and that ensuing alliance, with Taiwan, S. Vietnam, all to contain China. Any of this ringing a bell? Much of that is still in place, even though our relationship with China should be evolving.

No we waged containment every bit as hard in Asia and perceived China's communist influence to be every bit as expansive as that of the Soviets. Now we fear their economic expansive influence every bit as much, if not more and seek to contain still. But yes, our message does not match our actions. We have a bad habit of that and it costs us influence. We act in one way and say we are acting in other ways. Seems we only fool ourselves when we do that, as we buy into our self-image as a benign force for good and rule of law. Others see us differently.