I think that it makes a lot more sense when you look at it from the lens of fear. Americans, and the West by extension, have always been suspicious and a bit fearful of Chinese people but this was largely downplayed from 1980-2010 because China wasn't seen as a threat. Sure, there'd be the odd bit of antagonism, but even at the height of the break between China and the West after 1989, there is nowhere near as much antagonism as there is now. The Third Taiwan Strait Crisis happened in 1995-1996, and nobody even remembers this event.
It's not until China was perceived to be much more of a rival in the early 2010s that this shifted. From what I recall of the period, it started with the flaring up of the Senkaku Islands dispute in 2012, quickly followed by the flare up of tensions in the South China Sea, and finally the Pivot to Asia. Up until then, China was seen as vaguely menacing, but never a real world power, much less a rival to the End of History Western hegemony.
Compare and contrast that to India, and it's hard for anyone in the West to be scared of them. People in the West simply don't see Indian products dominate their houses, and they can't see India succeeding at long term plans the way their own governments are incapable of. The US government doesn't see India as a threat, and so nobody in the West is going to care too much about them.
Another good example of this syndrome is to look at Japan. Nowadays Japan is thought of as a pet Democracy the same way the West thinks of India. But back in the '70s and '80s, Japan was seen as a rising power; as a threat to the US's power structure. And we saw a lot of anti-Japanese sentiment up until the mid-90s. But once the Japanese economy slumped, they're not a threat any more, and the negative sentiment dried up.
