The geopolitical conditions were different, though. Nixon wanted to use China as a bulwark against the USSR and Vietnam, Clinton wanted access to cheap manufacturing as the neoliberal shareholder value-maxing push of the 90s depended on it and didn't think they would ever pose a threat and would be ever content with just being a source of cheap labor.
There is also the fact the way the Chinese state is structured allows for a unifying force capable of directing resources towards goals, India needs a Cultural Revolution-level event and get rid of its caste system before its able to achieve anything they claim.
I read an analysis that pointed out that this round of dismantling the US propaganda and regime change machine is fueled by techbro hubris and ignorance, and it seems that way.
According to it, Muskrat, Thiel and their incel techbro army sees stuff like USAID, RFE, RFA and VOA as relics of the Cold War not relevant to the current world(could be somewhat true for VOA and Radio Freewhatever) and that the internet is enough to achieve the same goals. This would jive with the fact that they probably live in a bubble of their own farts and completely ignore that the majority of the people in the world in the places they want to influence(that isn't the anglosphere and honorary aryans) don't have running water, let alone regular access to the internet and cant afford Starlink.
They must think twitter and reddit are the real world.