According to this article as late as June 2021 the US imperialists still believed they could replicate the Sino-Soviet split and drive a wedge between Russia and China by playing on Russia's supposed fear of China. When this turned out to be a delusion they absolutely lost their shit and went all out on trying to destroy/regime change Russia via proxy war.
The ultimate goal, as anyone who has been paying attention knows and as we have been pointing out for years, has always been to take down China.