February 25, 2021: A latest U.S. strategy paper on China that’s read widely in Washington, D.C., has drawn only a passing response in Beijing where the little public discussion has focused on one point; the author got China wrong.

“The Longer Telegram,” released in January, proposed the ways the new U.S. administration should deal with a rising China by showing a detailed critique of the Communist Party government under President Xi Jinping.

An influential U.S. approach on China requires the “same disciplined approach is applied to the defeat of the Soviet Union,” the paper said. “U.S. strategy must remain laser-focused on Xi, his inner circle, and the Chinese political context in which they rule.”

According to the D.C.-based think tank Atlantic Council, the author is a “former senior U.S. government official,” according to the D.C.-based think tank Atlantic Council that published the lengthy paper.

In Beijing, the paper is not much discussed in major state media, except for the loud state-backed tabloid Global Times, almost entirely in English.″ ‘Longer Telegram’ a late-stage hegemonic farce,” read the title of one op-ed.

China’s foreign ministry responded to a Global Times reporter who criticized “The Longer Telegram” for its call to contain China.

According to an official translation, the ministry said that such comments against the ruling Communist Party were “a collection of rumors and conspiracy theories” and attempts to drive U.S.-China relations toward conflict would result in “total failure.”

“The Longer Telegram” caused much controversy in the U.S. foreign policy world, with critics that say the paper mischaracterizes China and puts too much emphasis on the role of Xi. Many people agree with the paper’s idea for a thought-out U.S. policy on China.

That increasing cohesion around a tougher U.S. stance on China is a source of concern in Beijing.